Causal Interactive Links Between Presence and Fear in Virtual Reality Height Exposure.

ABSTRACT: Virtual reality plays an increasingly important role in research and therapy of pathological fear. However, the mechanisms how virtual environments elicit and modify fear responses are not yet fully understood. Presence, a psychological construct referring to the 'sense of being there' in a virtual environment, is widely assumed to crucially influence the strength of the elicited fear responses, however, causality is still under debate. The present study is the first that experimentally manipulated both variables to unravel the causal link between presence and fear responses. Height-fearful participants (N = 49) were immersed into a virtual height situation and a neutral control situation (fear manipulation) with either high versus low sensory realism (presence manipulation). Rating

SUBMITTER: Gromer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6363698 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature