So far, scientific research has been focused on the cognitive and environmental determinants of presence, trying to offer a definition and assessment measures that could capture such an elusive concept. But the emotional determinants and effects of presence have received less attention.

Emotions affect behaviors and cognitions, and they have an important impact on presence. Users "feel" presence. And as presence is unstable, emotions are also continuously changing. If we are able to understand better presence and emotional reactions to VE, we will be able to design more effective "virtual" experiences. Especially in clinical psychology field, but not only, we need to know how to generate and optimize the emotional impact that the virtual experiences have from a therapeutic point of view.

The main goal of EMMA project, an European Community funded research project (IST-2001-39192), is to study the relationships between presence and emotions. In particular, after analyzing the possible emotional impact of highly compelling synthetic experiences characterized by a high level of presence, the EMMA project is developing "mood devices" able to induce different forms of mood change and enhancement.

The EMMA partners are developing a range of virtual environments on various platforms, varying in immersiveness and interactivity, from body-tracked VR to small hand-held PDAs. At The Tools for Creativity studio in Umeå, we are implementing and testing several components of EMMA, including the Relaxation Island and the Exploratorium -which we have also designed. We have also developed a new wearable and wireless interface, the Body Joystick, which allows navigation through virtual spaces using only breath and balance.