Eidenmueller Katharina, Hoffmann Sabine, Kammler-Sücker Kornelius, Wenger Leonard, Mazza Massimiliano, Mühle Christiane, Stenger Manuel, Meixner Gerrit, Kiefer Falk, Lenz Bernd
Partner Site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, Deutsches Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit (German Center for Mental Health), Mannheim, Germany.
Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, J5, Mannheim, 68159, Germany, 49 62117033827.
JMIR Form Res. 2025 May 26;9:e71285. doi: 10.2196/71285.
Social contextual factors influence the onset and maintenance of substance abuse. Virtual reality (VR) provides a standardized method to present social stimuli and is increasingly used in addiction research.
This study examines the influence of a smoking versus a nonsmoking agent in VR on craving in nicotine-dependent male participants. Our primary hypothesis was that the interaction with a smoking agent is associated with increased craving compared to a nonsmoking agent. We expected higher craving in the presence of an agent regardless of the agent's smoking status.
Using a head-mounted display (Oculus Rift), 50 nicotine-dependent smokers were exposed to four VR conditions on a virtual marketplace: first without an agent, second and third with an agent who either smoked or did not smoke in randomized order, and fourth without an agent as a follow-up condition. Before the follow-up condition, participants smoked a cigarette. Craving was assessed with the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges and a visual analog scale within VR and after each session. We also examined anxiety and agitation (visual analog scale), immersion and presence with the igroup Presence Questionnaire, and salivary cortisol levels.
Results showed no significant difference in the participants' craving, anxiety, or agitation between the smoking and nonsmoking agent conditions. However, craving, anxiety, and agitation increased from the marketplace without an interacting agent to the conditions with an interacting agent, and decreased after smoking a cigarette. Immersion was low in all conditions and decreased over time. Salivary cortisol levels were highest at baseline and decreased over the course of the experiment.
These findings suggest that the presence of an agent (as a contextual factor) may override the specific influence of proximal stimuli (burning cigarette). The low immersion highlights the challenges in developing effective VR environments for cue exposure.
社会环境因素会影响药物滥用的发生和持续。虚拟现实（VR）提供了一种呈现社会刺激的标准化方法，并且越来越多地用于成瘾研究。
本研究考察了VR中吸烟与不吸烟的角色对尼古丁依赖男性参与者渴望程度的影响。我们的主要假设是，与不吸烟的角色互动相比，与吸烟的角色互动会导致渴望程度增加。我们预计，无论角色的吸烟状态如何，有角色在场时渴望程度都会更高。
使用头戴式显示器（Oculus Rift），50名尼古丁依赖吸烟者在虚拟市场中接触四种VR情境：首先是没有角色，其次和第三是分别随机接触吸烟或不吸烟的角色，第四是没有角色作为后续情境。在后续情境之前，参与者吸了一支烟。在VR情境中以及每个环节之后，使用吸烟冲动问卷和视觉模拟量表评估渴望程度。我们还考察了焦虑和激动情绪（视觉模拟量表）、使用igroup临场感问卷评估的沉浸感和临场感，以及唾液皮质醇水平。
结果显示，吸烟和不吸烟角色情境下参与者的渴望程度、焦虑或激动情绪没有显著差异。然而，从没有互动角色的市场情境到有互动角色的情境，渴望程度、焦虑和激动情绪增加，而在吸烟后则降低。所有情境下的沉浸感都较低，且随时间下降。唾液皮质醇水平在基线时最高，并在实验过程中降低。
这些发现表明，角色的存在（作为一种环境因素）可能会超越近端刺激（燃烧的香烟）的特定影响。低沉浸感凸显了开发有效的VR环境用于线索暴露的挑战。
