Sensation/Perception

Sensation refers to input from our environment that is detected by special neurons called sensory receptors. Perception is how our brain makes sense of and organizes our sensory experiences. People vary in how sensitive their sensory receptors are, and our lived experiences can shape how we perceive those sensory inputs. In other words, people experience the world differently from one another because of both how intensely they sense environmental inputs and how they make sense of them.

proprioception

Proprioception: the sense that informs us about the position and placement of our body relative to itself and its environment even without vison. Some examples of proprioception include the ability to walk without looking at your feet or touching your nose with your eyes closed.

A few of the rides at Walt Disney World interfered with our proprioception because of how fast and intense they were.

Expedition Everest was so fast that it made it difficult to tell where we were and what the roller coaster cart was doing. The ride had rapid backwards movement, sharp turns, and drops. Each of these things took place in the dark! The speed of the ride led to some loss of spatial awareness, which made it difficult for us to determine where our body was relative to the space around us. We instinctively crouched down as a defense mechanism.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster combines high speed, a dark room, and neon lights to create a visual sensation of flying down the freeway. The flashing lights and sudden turns combined with the G-forces you feel make it hard to determine where you are in space.

Multi-sensory Experiences in Galaxy's Edge

Rise of the Resistance

Rise of the Resistance is an immersive experience that includes not only a queue that seems to transport you to Batuu, but several other elements that trick your senses into making you believe you've become a character in the Star Wars Universe. Disney builds on their common technique of the pre-ride show (i.e., when they usher a group of riders into a room to watch a video explaining the context of the ride) by utilizing a moving spaceship to make riders believe they are really being transported to a new location. Particularly innovative is the fact that although you enter the ship from an outdoor location, when your ship is taken over by the First Order, you exit through the same door to find yourself aboard a star destroyer. Because you use the same door to enter and exit the ship, your sense of where you are in space is disrupted which enhances the immersive experience. Disney employs other tricks, such as the use of mirrors to create the illusion that rooms are larger than they are.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers' Run

This ride uses visual effects, sound effects, and movement to make riders feel as though they are flying the Millennium Falcon. Your brain perceives auditory, visual, and kinesthetic cues in a way that makes it feel like you are flying aboard a real spaceship. This is enhanced by the fact that your actions as a pilot, gunner, or engineer have real impact on the movements of the video screen and ship.

multisensory experiences on Avatar: flight of passage

The immersive experience of riding an icran (banshee) in the world of Pandora provides a full body experience by activating 4 different senses at the same time.
Sight (vision)- The ride is experienced by wearing 3D glasses to increase realism via enhanced depth perception. The placement of your body matches your movement and positioning on a massive IMAX screen, creating the illusion that you are actually on the back of a flying animal.
Hearing (audition)- When on the ride, the sounds correspond to your perceived visual surroundings, such as waves crashing and wings of animals flapping. With speakers attached to the device you are riding, along with sounds emitted from wall-mounted speakers, a realistic and immersive sound experience is created.
Touch (somatosensory)- When riding the banshee, the feeling of the animal breathing is created through compression on the seat of the ride. Further, fans and water misters create the feeling of air blowing and water gently splashing on the rider as you soar across the ocean. Movement and angle positioning of the ride seat create the illusion that you are travelling at high speeds.
Smell (olfaction)- Different smells become present with different environments, such as the ocean, forest, and mountain terrain. These smells adds to the immersive experience by your scent receptors detecting “ oh, I smell salt and a fresh air mixed with the feeling of water, I must be flying across the ocean.”

Embodied cognition

Embodied cognition refers to a set of theories that describe how our thoughts and perceptions can be shaped by our own bodily state and movements.

The Tron ride at magic kingdom incorporates psychology through immersive design, emotional engagement, and sensory stimulation. By placing riders in a forward leaning position, the attraction activates embodied cognition making guests feel as though they are truly racing through the digital world of the Grid. The build-up in the queue, including dramatic lighting and music, uses anticipation to heighten emotional arousal, increasing excitement before the ride even begins. Once the ride starts, the speed increases while synchronized lights and visuals promote a flow state where guests lose track of time and are absorbed in the experience.

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