Recent research suggests that virtual reality (VR) games can engage players in physical activity with high levels of enjoyment. Understanding users' motivation to engage and enjoy immersive VR ...exercise platforms is thus important to designers. We designed a VR exercise platform and conducted an experiment with two conditions, one with a static user interface (UI) and the other with an open world environment. Across participants there was significantly (p = 0.03*) greater enjoyment reported in an open world compared to static UI. Enjoyment in both static UI and open world conditions was positively correlated wih user's psychological needs and experience; autonomy and immersion. Participants' future play intention was also predicted by autonomy and immersion, but only within the open world condition. Our findings also suggest players can be classified into entertainment-focused and exercise-focused with different expectations and therefore different engagement behaviors with each VR exercise environment. The study highlights the value of informing VR design with measures of psychological need satisfaction.
Background: Nutrition counseling and education provided by registered dietitians (RD) is an efficacious service for improved health outcomes. Limitations of in person education in clinical settings ...include RD access, time constraints, and lack of hands-on education tools. Immersive virtual reality (iVR) technology may be able to improve the patient experience by providing meaningful educational experiences. Methods: Participants (n=44,29 female, BMI=25.31 ± 5.7, Age=27.6 ± 13.9) were randomized to receive iVR or an in-person nutrition education experience both of which focused on the nutritional principles of portion size and calorie density. Both educational materials were developed by an RD and similar scripts were used for consistency between the two versions. However, the virtual reality program allowed for interactive experiences with food items. This included activities such as selecting and cutting foods to adjusting portion sizes. The portion control self-efficacy survey was administered preand post-experience. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine the effect of education on portion size self-efficacy and knowledge. Results: Portion size self-efficacy improved across time points in both in-person (n=26) and VR (n=18) education conditions (p=0.006). No main effect of condition or interaction between condition and time was shown to be significant, indicating both interventions improved scores similarly. Conclusions: iVR nutrition education shows promise to be similarly effective to an in-person RD experience. This technology is best applied in conjunction with RD medical nutrition counseling and can serve a wide range of educational topics. Future research is needed to validate this tool in clinical settings and among at-risk populations that may have lower baseline portion size-self efficacy.
Although virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology in tourism, little research has been conducted on what factors make consumers visit destinations presented by VR. To address this gap in the ...literature, this study developed a theoretical framework including authentic experience, cognitive and affective responses, attachment, and visit intention with VR tourism using a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory. The results revealed significant impacts of authentic experience on cognitive and affective responses, indicating that authentic experience is an important factor in VR tourism. The study identified cognitive and affective responses as significant mediators in predicting attachment and visit intention. The results demonstrated that the intention to visit places shown in VR tourism was influenced by attachment to VR. Cognitive response had a stronger influence than affective response on the intention to visit a destination in VR. This study sheds light on why potential tourists visit destinations shown in VR.
Objective: Since the mid-1990s, a significant scientific literature has evolved regarding the outcomes from the use of what we now refer to as clinical virtual reality (VR). This use of VR simulation ...technology has produced encouraging results when applied to address cognitive, psychological, motor, and functional impairments across a wide range of clinical health conditions. This article addresses the question, "Is clinical VR ready for primetime?" Method: After a brief description of the various forms of VR technology, we discuss the trajectory of clinical VR over the last 20 years and summarize the basic assets that VR offers for creating clinical applications. The discussion then addresses the question of readiness in terms of the theoretical basis for clinical VR assets, the research to date, the pragmatic factors regarding availability, usability, and costs of clinical VR content/systems, and the ethical issues for the safe use of VR with clinical populations. Results: Our review of the theoretical underpinnings and research findings to date leads to the prediction that clinical VR will have a significant impact on future research and practice. Pragmatic issues that can influence adoption across many areas of psychology also appear favorable, but professional guidelines will be needed to promote its safe and ethical use. Conclusions: Although there is still much research needed to advance the science in this area, we strongly believe that clinical VR applications will become indispensable tools in the toolbox of psychological researchers and practitioners and will only grow in relevance and popularity in the future.
General Scientific Summary
Virtual reality (VR) technology offers new opportunities for clinical research, assessment, and intervention. Advances in the underlying VR-enabling technologies and methods can now support the creation of low-cost, yet sophisticated, immersive and interactive VR systems, capable of running on consumer-level computing devices. It is predicted that the clinical use of VR will have a significant impact on mental health care in areas where the research demonstrates added value.
Is virtual reality (VR) already a reality in behavioral health? To answer this question, a meta-review was conducted to assess the meta-analyses and systematic and narrative reviews published in this ...field in the last twenty-two months. Twenty-five different articles demonstrated the clinical potential of this technology in both the diagnosis and the treatment of mental health disorders: VR compares favorably to existing treatments in anxiety disorders, eating and weight disorders, and pain management, with long-term effects that generalize to the real world. But why is VR so effective? Here, the following answer is suggested: VR shares with the brain the same basic mechanism: embodied simulations. According to neuroscience, to regulate and control the body in the world effectively, the brain creates an embodied simulation of the body in the world used to represent and predict actions, concepts, and emotions. VR works in a similar way: the VR experience tries to predict the sensory consequences of an individual's movements, providing to him/her the same scene he/she will see in the real world. To achieve this, the VR system, like the brain, maintains a model (simulation) of the body and the space around it. If the presence in the body is the outcome of different embodied simulations, concepts are embodied simulations, and VR is an embodied technology, this suggests a new clinical approach discussed in this article: the possibility of altering the experience of the body and facilitating cognitive modeling/change by designing targeted virtual environments able to simulate both the external and the internal world/body.
This systematic literature review discusses the use of spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) as a training and therapy intervention for autistic individuals. The authors emphasize the need for ...an evidence-based framework with guidelines and design considerations to help developers and educators tailor SVVR to the diverse needs of autistic learners. The paper highlights the unique benefits of SVVR, such as being relatively easier to develop compared to other VR technologies and high compatibility with various devices, making it more affordable for educational settings. The authors also discuss the importance of the STP (Sociotechnical-Pedagogical) framework for evaluating and designing social aspects of SVVR interventions for autistic individuals.
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