RESEARCH PROJECTS.
Acceptance of Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality (VR) differs from traditional display means and user interfaces by its heavy reliance on the visual input that occupies almost 100% of the user’s visual field, guaranteeing a significant environment immersion feeling. As it tracks movement, it updates its content in real-time speed to mimic a real environment’s navigation allowing for an immediate interaction whether by looking up and down, right and left or by actively modifying the perceived environment. The usage of this technology extends to fields like education, military, entertainment (video games, music concerts, virtual travel), medicine, architectural design, virtual prototyping in product development, real estate, therapy, hotel industry, data visualization, fashion, marketing, and numerous other application fields.
Virtual reality brings ecological validity to the designed experiment by supplying a high similarity between the test environment and the real-world environment. Thanks to this feature, VR provides experimenters the opportunity to "simulate complex situations and contexts" through visual, auditory and tactile input.
Therefore, it is important to access the population's acceptance to this technology if we wish to continue using this technology for neuropsychological assessment and treatment.
Here we investigate our subjects’ acceptance of the VR experience, the possible cybersickness symptoms and the unpleasant physical reactions they could undergo. We also aim to contribute to the literature on emotional responses inside virtual reality environments in various ways as it explores the affective responses and the physiological reactions evoked by exposure to VR.