Quirós-Ramírez Maria Alejandra, Feineisen Anna, Streuber Stephan, Reips Ulf-Dietrich
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Coburg, Bavaria, Germany.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 8;20(4):e0318688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0318688. eCollection 2025.
Virtual Reality (VR) has paved its way into experimental psychology due to its capacity to realistically simulate real-world experiences in a controlled way. Theoretically, this technology opens the possibility to conduct experiments anywhere in the world using consumer hardware (e.g. mobile-VR). This would allow researchers to access large scale, heterogeneous samples and to conduct experiments in the field in cases where social distancing is required - e.g. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we investigate the feasibility of carrying VR experiments in the field using mobile-VR through a stress inductive (public speaking task) and a relaxation (nature) task and contrast them with results in the laboratory (HTC Vive and mobile-VR). The first experiment employed a 2 (device: HTC Vive Pro (HMD) versus Wearality Sky VR smartphone adapter) x 3 (audience: 'none', 'attentive', 'inattentive') between-subjects design. Thirty-four participants took part in the experiment and completed a public speaking task. No significant difference was detected in participants' sense of presence, cybersickness, or stress levels. In the second experiment, using an inexpensive Google Cardboard smartphone adapter a 3 (between: device setting) x 2 (within: task) mixed-design was employed. Sixty participants joined the experiment, and completed a public speaking and a nature observation task. No significant difference in participants' sense of presence, cybersickness, perceived stress and relaxation were detected. Taken together, our results provide initial evidence supporting the feasibility and validity of using mobile VR in specific psychological field experiments, such as stress induction and relaxation tasks, conducted in the field. We discuss challenges and concrete recommendations for using VR in field experiments. Future research is needed to evaluate its applicability across a broader range of experimental paradigms.
虚拟现实（VR）因其能够以可控方式逼真地模拟现实世界体验而进入了实验心理学领域。从理论上讲，这项技术使得使用消费级硬件（如移动VR）在世界任何地方进行实验成为可能。这将使研究人员能够获取大规模、异质的样本，并在需要保持社交距离的情况下（例如在COVID-19大流行期间）在实地进行实验。在这里，我们通过压力诱导（公开演讲任务）和放松（自然场景）任务，研究了使用移动VR在实地进行VR实验的可行性，并将其与实验室（HTC Vive和移动VR）的结果进行对比。第一个实验采用了2（设备：HTC Vive Pro头戴式显示器（HMD）与Wearality Sky VR智能手机适配器）×3（观众：“无”、“专注”、“不专注”）的组间设计。34名参与者参加了该实验，并完成了一项公开演讲任务。在参与者的临场感、晕动症或压力水平方面未检测到显著差异。在第二个实验中，使用了一个廉价的谷歌纸板智能手机适配器，采用了3（组间：设备设置）×2（组内：任务）的混合设计。60名参与者参与了该实验，并完成了一项公开演讲和一项自然观察任务。在参与者的临场感、晕动症、感知压力和放松方面未检测到显著差异。综上所述，我们的结果提供了初步证据，支持在实地进行的特定心理领域实验（如压力诱导和放松任务）中使用移动VR的可行性和有效性。我们讨论了在实地实验中使用VR的挑战和具体建议。未来需要进行研究以评估其在更广泛的实验范式中的适用性。
