Abstract
A possible relation between vection and presence is discussed. Two experiments examined the hypothesis that 'presence' is enhanced by manipulations which facilitate interpreting visual scenes as 'background.' A total of 39 participants in two experiments engaged in a pursuit game while in a virtual visual environment generated by an HMD and rated their experience of 'presence' on 5 questions. Experiment 1 compared two viewing conditions: visual scene masking at the eye and a paper mask mounted on the screen with the same 60 degree FOV, and showed that presence was enhanced by eye masking relative to screen masking. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with a double-blind experimental design.