Investigating Presence Across Rendering Style and Ratio of Virtual to Real Content in Mixed Reality

We investigate how the amount and rendering style of virtual content impact self-reported presence and subjective preference in an extended reality environment. In a within-subjects experiment, we vary the ratio of virtual to real content across three conditions: low (mostly real with some virtual elements), medium (a balanced mix of both), and high (mostly virtual with no real visual elements). For each ratio, we use two different rendering styles for virtual content: realistic and stylized (cartoon-like), evaluating presence through standardized questionnaires. Our results suggest that different ratios of virtual to real content minimally affect presence, with realistic renderings evoking stronger presence than stylized ones. Participants preferred higher amounts of virtual content and realistic virtual content over stylized versions. These findings imply that coherence and quality of virtual content may contribute more to presence in mixed reality settings than amount of virtual content.