Two studies encourage our study of presence promoted by spatial
cues and gender influences on verbal behavior. Heller and
Procter (2014) analyzed differences in conversations of individuals
who chatted with Freudbot, a computer agent simulating Freud, in
a VWlocation or through a text-only medium. Those conversations
which occurred in VW were significantly higher in particular measures
of LIWC categories: personal pronouns, cognition, biology,
past, and present. Such evidence demonstrates that differences in
verbal behavior can be detected in short-term, undirected interactions.
More directly related to our current study, Kramer, Oh, and
Fussell (2006) found significant variations in specific measures of
conversation logs related to four different conditions of
computer-mediated communication that differed in levels of presence.
Participants were given the task of collaborating to assemble
a robot. The medium was either audio only, video conferencing
with the camera focused on the workspace, video conferencing
that included the ability to draw on the video feed, or
face-to-face. Self-reported presence scores correlated positively
with the use of ‘we’ pronouns and correlated negatively with the
use of ‘you’ pronouns, supporting the idea that greater presence
promotes collaboration in interactions. Additionally, presence
scores also correlated positively with increased use of references
to local and remote space (deixis). Such evidence demonstrates
the link between verbal behavior and the presence invoked by virtual
environments and indicates that linguistic metrics can be utilized
in investigations of how virtual environments can shape the
social interactions that occur within them.