A Unified Conceptual Model of Immersive Experience in Extended Reality

Posted on 9 Apr 2025 by Hyunkook Lee

I’m excited to share that my paper, “A Unified Conceptual Model of Immersive Experience in Extended Reality” has been published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports (Q1, IF 4.9)! The initial manuscript of this paper has been available as a preprint on Psyarxiv for nearly 5 years, so I am especially glad to see it finally find a home. It’s published Open Access and can be accessed freely here.

This paper explicates various underlying concepts of immersive experience and proposes an overarching conceptual model that can serve as a foundation for systematically and consistently assessing immersive systems and experiences.

A persistent issue in this research field is the inconsistency in terminology: different researchers use different terms for the same concepts—or the same terms for different concepts. Immersion is often used by some researchers to describe the technological process, while others use it to refer to a psychological state. This lack of conceptual clarity makes it difficult to compare studies and build a coherent body of research around immersive experience in XR.

While there are existing definitions of immersion, they often focus solely on either the system’s sensory simulation capabilities or the user’s cognitive engagement. But both aspects are essential, and they influence each other. Immersive experience is a complex, multidimensional construct, and no single standardised questionnaire can fully capture it across different contexts. When designing studies or evaluating the immersive potential of systems or content, it is crucial to understand the dimensions of immersion, the related concepts, and their conceptual hierarchy.

In this model, I first propose using a clear terminology: Immersive Experience (IE) and Immersive System (IS), rather than just immersion. This helps avoid confusion.

The model considers three core dimensions of immersive experience, which encapsulate a wide range of immersion-related terms found in the literature. The typology of Presence is based on Biocca (1997)’s but with slightly revised definitions to cover AR/MR as well as VR.

• Physical Presence (PP)
• Social Presence & Self Presence (SP)
• Involvement (INV).

PP, SP and INV are enabled by three preconditions:

• Sensorimotor Engagement
• Task/Motor Engagement
• Narrative Engagement

These are influenced by the properties of IS and content:

• Plausibility
• Interactivity
• Interestingness

, while also being modulated by subjective factors:

• Internal Reference (due to prior experiences and cultural background)
• Skill/Knowledge
• Personal Preferences

Please read the paper to find out more about the model. I hope this unified model contributes to a clearer understanding about immersion and provides a useful framework for researchers and practitioners working in XR.