## 2 Materials and Methods
### Analysis Methodology  
The methodology was based on an integrative synthesis applying content analysis. Integrative syntheses summarize data where the variables are secure and adequately specified [50]. This approach is mainly suitable for synthesizing quantitative studies [51]. Content analysis is a systematic technique that categorizes data into themes developed for primary research, and draws on a wide variety of information, mainly textual [52]. [PERSON] [53] defined content analysis as \"a systematic and replicable technique for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit coding rules\". Data Coding and Tabulation System  
For the data-coding process, several taxonomies were established based on sub-objectives 4, 5, 6 and 7, that is, those focused on identifying the internal relationships  
Figure 1: PRISMA data screening process. between variables and sense of presence. To address these variables and their coding, we developed a first taxonomy based on environmental variable type, a second based on built environment type (context) and a third based on condition (technology or user profile). The taxonomies were formally established after investigating and understanding how the studies were undertaken (see Figure 2 for a graphic taxonomy of environmental stimuli). Table 3 depicts the taxonomy developed for environmental stimuli related to the built environment. [PERSON] et al. [26] defined these stimuli as attributes of the environment (environmental and architectural characteristics) that act through psychological processes, such as the results of sensory perceptions (e.g., spatial distribution, landscape, biophilic elements, furniture, smell, sounds, lighting). [PERSON] et al. [54] argued that it is possible to differentiate between biological stimuli, i.e., those important for basic survival and which automatically affect cognitive processing (e.g., attention, memory), and stimuli important in social life, which require elaborate processing, for example, memory and attention. Biological stimuli include those related to both interoceptive and exteroceptive senses. In  
Figure 2: Graphical taxonomy for environmental stimuli. social stimuli, a distinction is made between: (a) co-presence stimuli, understood as those involving interactions with others, (b) communication possibility stimuli (e.g., audio, chat), (c) stimuli that prompt users to identify the roles of actors in the VE and to play roles themselves, (d) semantic stimuli, understood as those that require linguistic processing and interpretation, (e) task stimuli, understood as those that guide behaviors and goals, and (f) affordance stimuli, based on [PERSON]'s theory [55], understood as users' perceptions of the environment that prompt them to interact directly within that environment, that is, they invite them to undertake specific behaviors. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{p{56.9 pt} p{113.8 pt} p{113.8 pt} p{113.8 pt}} \hline \hline
**Category** & **Subcategory** & **Subclass** & **Study Variables (Stimuli)** \\ \hline Biological Stimuli & Visuals & Discreet & Color Texture \\  & & Discreet & Scale Proportion \\  & & & Luminosity (of object) \\ \hline  & & Spatial & Dimension/scale of space \\  & & & Arrangement and relationships between objects \\ \hline  & & Environmental & Atmospheric conditions (rain, wind, etc.) Dynamic lighting \\  & & & Visual effects (fog, fire, smoke, etc.) \\ \hline  & & & Ambient sounds Music \\  & & & Reverberation Voice \\ \hline  & & & Texture Vibrations \\  & & & Temperature Pressure \\  & & & Wind \\ \hline  & & & Smells \\ \hline  & & & sensations of movement (body) \\  & & & Acceleration (body) \\  & & & Spatial orientation (body) \\ \hline  & & & Perception of position and movement of limbs and joints \\ \hline  & & & & \\ \hline  & & & & \\ \hline  & & & & \\ \hline  & & & & \\ \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Taxonomy of environmental stimuli.