Emotions and the Emotional Valence Afforded by the Virtual Environment
Stéphane Bouchard · Virtual Reality · 2010
For decades, researchers have been concerned about the effectiveness of traditional tools used by clinicians to treat mental disorders and have been trying to develop more and more innovative techniques. The emergence of virtual reality presents new clinical and experimental opportunities in psychology. Virtual reality, as defined as “an application allowing a user to navigate and interact in real time with a computer-generated threedimensional environment” (Pratt et al., 1995, p.17), can be distinguished from other media by the real-time interaction with synthetic stimuli. The potential of virtual reality has encouraged more scientific research exploring the mechanisms involved in the efficacy of using virtual environments. Various applications to mental health problems have been the subject of virtual reality experiments. Virtual reality’s usefulness in inducing anxiety for curative purposes has been reiterated many times (Robillard et al., 2003; Moore, Wierderhold et al., 2002), and the effectiveness of this tool for psychological treatment of certain anxiety disorders is documented by numerous studies (Bouchard et al., 2006; Cote & Bouchard, 2008; Gerardi et al., 2010; Weiderhold & Weiderhold, 2005). It may seem astonishing that virtual reality would put an end to phobic avoidance even though virtual scenarios are not totally realistic. The feeling of presence gives users the subjective impression that the virtual environment in which they are immersed really exists. Seven dimensions may modulate presence: the realism of pictograms and images, social interactions in the environment, the ease of interactions, the user’s power or perception of control, the duration of exposure, social factors such as relationships with others and, finally, characteristics related to the virtual reality system (Stanney & Sadowski, 2002). In addition, some variables such as the participant’s propensity to be absorbed in an activity, the tendency to concentrate and to dispose of distractions (Witmer & Singer, 1998) and, certain data even suggests, the ability to be hypnotized could be involved in an increased feeling of presence (Wiederhold & Wiederhold, 2000). Ijsselsteijn and Riva (2003) asserted that the effectiveness of virtual immersion is partly attributable to the degree of presence felt by the immersed user. Similarly, Wiederhold and Wiederhold (1999) suggested that the degree of presence could be related to the success of the treatment.