In virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET), patients are exposed to virtual environments that resemble feared real-life situations. The aim of the current study was to assess the extent to which VRET ...gains can be observed in real-life situations. We conducted a meta-analysis of clinical trials applying VRET to specific phobias and measuring treatment outcome by means of behavioral laboratory tests or recordings of behavioral activities in real-life. Data sources were searches of databases (Medline, PsycInfo, and Cochrane). We included in total 14 clinical trials on specific phobias. Results revealed that patients undergoing VRET did significantly better on behavioral assessments following treatment than before treatment, with an aggregated uncontrolled effect size of g = 1.23. Furthermore, patients undergoing VRET performed better on behavioral assessments at post-treatment than patients on wait-list (g = 1.41). Additionally, results of behavioral assessment at post-treatment and at follow-up revealed no significant differences between VRET and exposure in vivo (g = −0.09 and 0.53, respectively). Finally, behavioral measurement effect sizes were similar to those calculated from self-report measures. The findings demonstrate that VRET can produce significant behavior change in real-life situations and support its application in treating specific phobias.
•Virtual reality interventions can lead to behavioral change in daily life.•Virtual reality interventions for specific phobias are as effective as traditional behavior therapy.•More research is needed using rigorous methodology.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Although virtual reality (VR) is largely associated with a dependency on realist imagery award-winning visual effects professional Kevin Mack and oil painter Jane LaFarge Hamill use VR to produce ...abstract works. Abstract art and early abstract film reveal the importance of such experimentation to each medium’s latent potential and how early oddities, in due course, enter the mainstream. The author examines Mack and Hamill’s respective works to propose that experimenting with abstraction in virtual reality is crucial to its unfolding as a creative medium.
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Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising tool for studying and rehabilitating gait and balance impairments in people with Parkinson disease (PD) as it allows users to be engaged in ...an enriched and highly individualized complex environment. This Review examines the rationale and evidence for using VR in the assessment and rehabilitation of people with PD, makes recommendations for future research and discusses the use of VR in the clinic. In the assessment of people with PD, VR has been used to manipulate environments to enhance study of the behavioural and neural underpinnings of gait and balance, improving understanding of the motor-cognitive neural circuitry involved. Despite suggestions that VR can provide rehabilitation that is more effective and less labour intensive than non-VR rehabilitation, little evidence exists to date to support these claims. Nevertheless, much unrealized potential exists for the use of VR to provide personalized assessment and rehabilitation that optimizes motor learning in both the clinic and home environments and adapts to changes in individuals over time. Design of such systems will require collaboration between all stakeholders to maximize useability, engagement, safety and effectiveness.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This study explores players’ fright reactions and coping strategies in an immersive virtual reality (VR) horror game. Based on Slater’s theory of virtual reality, two dimensions of fear elements in ...the VR game−the fear of place illusion (PI) and the plausibility illusion (PSI) −were identified by playing a virtual reality survival horror game with a sample of 145 students. Participants reported greater fear toward PSI elements than toward PI elements. Fear of PSI elements positively and strongly predicted disengagement coping strategies and overall fear. Among coping strategies, players mainly adopted approach strategies, followed by avoidance (disengagement and denial), and self-help strategies. A “self-talk” strategy, newly identified in this study, has been reported as an effective means to cope with mediated threat in VR games. Regarding individual differences, sensation seeking and neuroticism influenced participants’ coping strategies and fear. Additionally, males and females employed different coping strategies. Very few students experienced next-day fright, which consists mostly of cognitive reactions and VR-related reactions, such as the Tetris effect and the fear of being attacked from the back. Theoretical frameworks regarding fear elements and coping reactions are proposed to aid future research. Implications for academia, fear conditioning for training, and marketing campaigns are discussed.
•Fear elements consisted of place illusion and plausibility illusion dimensions.•Plausibility illusion elements induced more fear than place illusion elements.•Coping strategies include self-help, approach, and avoidance dimensions.•Very few participants experienced next-day fright, most of which was cognitive.•Virtual reality horror games are effective in inducing mediated frights.
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Virtual reality (VR) is a promising tool to promote motor (re)learning in healthy users and brain-injured patients. However, in current VR-based motor training, movements of the users performed in a ...three-dimensional space are usually visualized on computer screens, televisions, or projection systems, which lack depth cues (2D screen), and thus, display information using only monocular depth cues. The reduced depth cues and the visuospatial transformation from the movements performed in a three-dimensional space to their two-dimensional indirect visualization on the 2D screen may add cognitive load, reducing VR usability, especially in users suffering from cognitive impairments. These 2D screens might further reduce the learning outcomes if they limit users’ motivation and embodiment, factors previously associated with better motor performance. The goal of this study was to evaluate the potential benefits of more immersive technologies using head-mounted displays (HMDs). As a first step towards potential clinical implementation, we ran an experiment with 20 healthy participants who simultaneously performed a 3D motor reaching and a cognitive counting task using: (1) (immersive) VR (IVR) HMD, (2) augmented reality (AR) HMD, and (3) computer screen (2D screen). In a previous analysis, we reported improved movement quality when movements were visualized with IVR than with a 2D screen. Here, we present results from the analysis of questionnaires to evaluate whether the visualization technology impacted users’ cognitive load, motivation, technology usability, and embodiment. Reports on cognitive load did not differ across visualization technologies. However, IVR was more motivating and usable than AR and the 2D screen. Both IVR and AR rea ched higher embodiment level than the 2D screen. Our results support our previous finding that IVR HMDs seem to be more suitable than the common 2D screens employed in VR-based therapy when training 3D movements. For AR, it is still unknown whether the absence of benefit over the 2D screen is due to the visualization technology per se or to technical limitations specific to the device.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Immersive virtual reality (VR) applications require ultra-high data rate and low-latency for smooth operation. Hence in this paper, aiming to improve VR experience in multi-user VR wireless video ...streaming, a deep-learning aided scheme for maximizing the quality of the delivered video chunks with low-latency is proposed. Therein the correlations in the predicted field of view (FoV) and locations of viewers watching 360° HD VR videos are capitalized on to realize a proactive FoV-centric millimeter wave (mmWave) physical-layer multicast transmission. The problem is cast as a frame quality maximization problem subject to tight latency constraints and network stability. The problem is then decoupled into an HD frame request admission and scheduling subproblems and a matching theory game is formulated to solve the scheduling subproblem by associating requests from clusters of users to mmWave small cell base stations (SBSs) for their unicast/multicast transmission. Furthermore, for realistic modeling and simulation purposes, a real VR head-tracking dataset and a deep recurrent neural network (DRNN) based on gated recurrent units (GRUs) are leveraged. Extensive simulation results show how the content-reuse for clusters of users with highly overlapping FoVs brought in by multicasting reduces the VR frame delay in 12%. This reduction is further boosted by proactiveness that cuts by half the average delays of both reactive unicast and multicast baselines while preserving HD delivery rates above 98%. Finally, enforcing tight latency bounds shortens the delay-tail as evinced by 13% lower delays in the 99th percentile.
The use of Virtual Worlds (VWs) has increased in the last decade. VWs are used for communication, education, community building, creative arts, and more. A good deal of research has been conducted ...into learning and VWs, but other areas remain ripe for investigation. Factors from technological platforms to the nature and conventions of the communities that use VWs must be considered, in order to achieve the best possible interaction between virtual spaces and their users. Making Sense of Space focuses on the background to these issues, describing a range of case studies conducted by the authors. The book investigates the innovative and creative ways designers employ VWs for research, performance-making, and audience engagement. Secondly, it looks into how educators use these spaces to support their teaching practice. Lastly, the book examines the potential of VWs as new methods of communication, and the ways they are changing our perception of reality. This book is structured into four chapters. An introduction provides a history and outline of important themes for VWs, and subsequent chapters consider the design of virtual spaces, experience of virtual spaces, and communication in virtual spaces. * Written by two experienced academics and practitioners in the field, offering different perspectives * Uses a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on: education; scenography; performance studies; disaster management; and computer science * Provides multiple viewpoints on the topic, gained through interviews and contributions from a range of experts, as well as several co-authored chapters
Zum Titelbild: Das Projekt hidden structures – Ingenieurbaukunst Berlin nutzt gezielt die Möglichkeiten von Digitalisierung und Virtual Reality für eine neue Dimension der interaktiven Vermittlung ...historischer wie heutiger Ingenieurbauleistungen. Ein Beispiel, dass das Potenzial der Web‐Darstellung und ihrer interaktiven Erkundung aufzeigen soll, ist das Shell‐Haus. Bis zu elf Etagen hoch war das 1932 vollendete Hochhaus, eines der ersten in Berlin. Mit seiner wellenförmig aufsteigenden Fassade, der horizontal durchlaufenden Travertinverkleidung und den eingebetteten Fensterbändern gilt es noch heute als das eleganteste Bürohaus der Stadt. Weitere Informationen lesen Sie im Beitrag auf S. 320 ff.
Foto: Wolfgang Bittner
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