Background Recent advancements within Virtual Reality (VR) have enabled bodily illusions which provide as sense of Virtual Embodiment. This is achieved through virtual mirrors, which enable the illusion that the body viewed in the mirror is their own. While Virtual Embodiment has been shown to affect self-esteem in adults, its impact on adolescents remains largely unknown. Objective Adolescence is a critical stage of self-esteem development, marked by rapid physical and psychological changes. This study examined whether embodiment in a powerful Virtual Embodiment viewed via a virtual mirror, could enhance adolescents’ self-esteem. It also explored the moderating role of Sense of Presence, on this relationship. Method A total of 160 adolescents were randomly assigned to experimental group or control group. The experimental group were placed in a virtual environment with a virtual mirror, in which they could see themselves as Power VE–a physically powerful Virtual Embodiment. The control group interacted with the same environment but without a mirror or physical actions. All participants completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale before and after the VR experience, along with measures of Sense of Presence and Virtual Embodiment. Results Both groups demonstrated increases in self-esteem following the VR experience. Participants in the experimental group reported significantly higher levels of Sense of Presence compared to the control group. Although Sense of Presence did not significantly moderate the relationship between group assignment and self-esteem change, higher Sense of Presence was associated with a more immersive embodiment experience. Conclusion The findings suggest that brief exposure in virtual environments may be associated with short-term changes in adolescents’ self-esteem and highlight Sense of Presence as a central experiential component of Virtual Embodiment. These insights underscore the potential of Virtual Embodiment for educational and therapeutic contexts tailored to adolescents’ developmental needs.

The extensive development of AI- and virtual reality-based technologies in recent years has opened new perspectives on educational tools, making them more immersive and accessible. Bearing in mind that students spend a significant amount of time each day engaging in online and virtual activities (e.g., social networks, computer games, etc.), it is critically important to leverage this and get them interested in science through these kinds of interactive media. This especially refers to fields of science that are traditionally considered demanding to engage in. This paper presents current progress on the development of iMechLab, an interactive virtual laboratory for fundamental mechanics. Our virtual laboratory contains five simulation modules aim at covering different aspects of fundamental problems in mechanics: (1) motion of a rectangular block on a horizontal surface under an external force and friction, (2) motion of a rectangular block down an inclined plane under an external force and friction, (3) a pendulum with adjustable length, mass, and initial angle, (4) a vertically oscillating spring-mass system with damping, and (5) projectile motion under gravity and friction. To realistically emulate system behavior, we developed our own mathematical models based on the laws of mechanics. Users can interactively set the initial parameters for each simulation and observe how the system responds. By combining user input, real-time animations and visualization, and graphical feedback (diagrams that illustrate key aspects of dynamics for selected simulations), iMechLab aims to help future users gain a deeper understanding of mechanical phenomena through an immersive virtual experience.

Introduction Public Speaking Anxiety (PSA) is a highly prevalent disorder and may lead to adverse consequences. Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is an effective treatment for PSA in adults and adolescents, yet little is known about the long-term effects of VRET for PSA. Method The current study assessed the clinical effects of a two-phased, four-armed RCT study at 12-month follow-up. In the original trial, a total of 100 adolescents were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1). VRET-only, 2) VRET + online exposure program, 3) Online psychoeducation program + online exposure program, or 4) Waitlist + online psychoeducation program. Participants were assessed on public speaking anxiety-, social interaction anxiety- and social phobia symptoms. Results At group level, online psychoeducation and online exposure had a statistically significant reduction in PSAS scores from post-treatment to 12-month follow-up, whereas the other groups maintained their treatment gains. Social interaction anxiety symptoms remained unchanged following the intervention, while the improvement in social phobia symptoms was maintained at 12-month follow-up. Discussion This study provides an early indication that both VRET, and online psychoeducation + online exposure, could be effective methods of reducing PSA in adolescents over a 12-month period. However, as the findings have several limitations, including small sample size, this needs to be explored further. The study was pre-registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04396392) on the 11th of February 2020.

Introduction Objectively quantifying emotional responses in Virtual Reality (VR) remains a challenging for affective computing and adaptive interface design, particularly during active motor task execution. Methods This study presents a dual-layer emotion sensing framework that combines rule-based Facial Action Unit (AU) analysis with GPT-4 based semantic interpretation to characterize affective responses in immersive environments. As a pilot methodological validation, twenty-one healthy adults performed identical motor tasks in two VR settings (a Contentment Forest and a Horror Morgue) while facial expressions were monitored. Results Co-activations of 63 AUs were classified into six basic emotions; five emotions were retained for statistical analysis, revealing significant differences in emotional distributions between environments (χ 2 (4) = 69.92, p < 0.001). These emotion labels were subsequently reinterpreted into higher-level affective dimensions (Contentment and Anxiety). Discussion The dual-layer framework enables continuous, emotion profiling in VR without intrusive sensors, suggesting potential applications for future affect-aware VR applications in rehabilitation, training, and entertainment.

The sense of embodiment (SoE), when an individual takes bodily ownership over an artificial body part as their own, has been shown to produce analgesic effects. SoE can be facilitated through virtual reality (VR) and spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR), where users may experience embodiment of virtual limbs. In this study we used pre-recorded embodiment-inducing SVVR as a nonpharmacological analgesic intervention for individuals with hand osteoarthritis (HOA) who experienced chronic pain. The study used a pre/post within-subjects design (N = 10) to evaluate the immediate effects of SVVR and a 3-week single-subject design (N = 2) to evaluate potential prolonged effects. Results revealed that SVVR significantly reduced pain in the pre/post study during SVVR ( p = 0.02; r = 0.82) and immediately after ( p = 0.01; r = 0.90). The single-subjects study demonstrated significant analgesic effects during the week of the intervention for one participant ( p < 0.001), but not for the other participant ( p = 0.89). Embodiment-inducing SVVR shows potential as an nonpharmacological and cost-effective way to manage pain and support functioning in people with HOA.

Introduction Immersive virtual reality (iVR) offers a multisensory environment for education, yet the integration of olfaction remains underexplored. This study examined whether incorporating ambient olfactory stimuli into an iVR environment enhances foreign language vocabulary retention and the user’s sense of presence. Methods A between-subjects experiment was conducted with 59 participants who learned German vocabulary in a virtual airport scenario. Participants were assigned to one of five ambient olfactory conditions systematically selected to represent distinct quadrants of the circumplex model of affect: no scent (control), spearmint (pleasant-arousing), lavender (pleasant-calming), burning wood (unpleasant-arousing), or sewage (unpleasant-calming). Vocabulary retention was measured using matching pre- and post-tests, while subjective presence was assessed using the standardised Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQp). Results The results indicated that ambient olfactory stimulation, regardless of affective valence or arousal level, did not significantly improve immediate vocabulary retention compared to the control condition. However, scent did impact the subjective experience of presence; notably, an unpleasant, high-arousal scent (burning wood) served as a distraction, significantly reducing perceived spatial presence. Discussion These findings establish an important boundary condition for multisensory educational VR. They demonstrate that the simple addition of ambient, affective scents as a background stimulus is insufficient to drive immediate cognitive learning gains, and may even detract from immersion if unpleasant. Multisensory iVR design must be guided by pedagogical priorities rather than novelty alone, suggesting that relying solely on ambient emotional modulation via olfaction is not a viable strategy for complex cognitive tasks.

Background Existing Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) tools are predominantly solo-user platforms that lack real-time clinical interaction, creating structural and psychological barriers to the therapeutic alliance. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and patient-side usability of SafeSpaceVR, an open-source, asymmetric VRET architecture designed to bridge the gap between patient immersion and real-time clinician control. Methods Utilizing a four-phase User-Centered Design (UCD) framework, we conducted formative research through a public survey (N = 33) and semi-structured clinician interviews (N = 3) to define technical requirements. These insights informed the development of a functional prototype, which was subsequently evaluated in a summative playtesting phase (N = 11) to assess usability, clarity, and perceived therapeutic relevance. Results Formative data emphasized the critical need for emotional doorways, such as a virtual clinician's office, and granular clinician-side control over social density. Summative testing revealed high usability and strong perceived relevance for social anxiety treatment. Conclusions This study demonstrates the initial feasibility of open-source, clinician-centered VR tools. As a proof of concept, SafeSpaceVR provides a foundational roadmap for remote, collaborative, and asymmetric digital mental health interventions.

Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs), which embody an artificial intelligence (AI) in a humanoid representation, have enormous potential for immersive extended reality (XR) environments to enable natural and engaging human-AI interactions. With recent advances in large language models (LLMs) in simulating human-like text responses, interest in anthropomorphic embodied IVAs has grown across extended reality (XR) research and application domains. However, toolkits for authoring and interacting with IVAs in research remain sparse. Therefore, we present Anthropomorphic AI , a flexible and scalable open-source research toolkit for authoring and interacting with embodied IVAs with rich multimodal capabilities, including speech, gaze, gestures, facial expressions, and vision. Our system enables developers to create various embodied anthropomorphic IVAs by customizing behavior through expressive nonverbal cues, selecting and combining different foundation models, speech-to-text (STT) and text-to-speech (TTS) methods, and adapting the system prompt to guide interaction. We also integrate various features such as proximity detection, trajectory-based action recognition, and vision-based multimodal prompting for supporting natural human-IVA interaction in immersive XR. We evaluate the toolkit through four use case demonstrations, a pilot developer evaluation, and an pilot end-user evaluation in immersive VR, showing its capability in generating anthropomorphic IVAs for immersive XR applications.

Immersive virtual reality is increasingly used to evaluate spatial and environmental design scenarios, yet most studies rely on post-experience surveys that summarize experience retrospectively and obscure how responses unfold during exposure. This study demonstrates how integrating wearable biometric sensing with immersive virtual reality can extend spatial research by capturing temporally resolved, embodied responses to environmental variation. We conducted a controlled virtual reality experiment featuring three urban spatial typologies (residential, institutional, and urban core), each containing four sequential biodiversity treatments ranging from no to high biodiversity. Heart rate and galvanic skin response were recorded continuously and analyzed as within-subject deviations from baseline, then segmented according to spatial typology and treatment. Aggregate survey responses were used to characterize reflective post-experience perceptions of biodiversity, naturalness, inviting quality, and overall liking. Results show that physiological arousal does not scale linearly with either perceived biodiversity or stated preference: moderate biodiversity conditions often elicited elevated heart rate alongside peak liking, while high biodiversity conditions sometimes produced heightened arousal accompanied by reduced liking. An illustrative within-subject comparison demonstrates how biometric data reveal experiential inflection points that are not evident from survey responses alone. Rather than treating biometric measures as validation tools, this work positions immersive virtual reality combined with biometric sensing as an embodied response instigator that complements reflective evaluation and offers new methodological possibilities for spatial design research.

Virtual Reality (VR) training systems often rely on visual cues, which can compete for the user’s attention, particularly in high-skill domains like surgery or assembly. While vibrotactile guidance offers a non-visual alternative, current single-limb systems suffer from limited spatial resolution, restricting their directional precision for complex tasks. To overcome this limitation, we propose a multi-limb “Tacton (symbolic vibrotactile patterns)” strategy that distributes vibrotactile information across anatomically distinct limbs (the wrist and ankle). We conducted two experiments to validate this approach and determine the optimal reference frame for inter-limb coordination. Experiment 1 ( N = 12 ) evaluated the distribution strategy by comparing the directional precision of single-limb (wrist and forearm) versus multi-limb (wrist and ankle) configurations using a novel temporal pattern encoding for 32 unique directions. Results demonstrated that distributing cues significantly improved precision, reducing angular errors to under 22.5 ° in over 77% of trials compared to the single-limb condition. Experiment 2 ( N = 12 ) addressed the cognitive challenge of coordinating these distributed signals by comparing a body-based “Skeletal” frame with an environment-based “World” reference frame. The “World” frame, which maps cues to an allocentric coordinate system, yielded substantially faster reaction times and lower angular errors than the “Skeletal” frame, minimizing the cognitive load associated with mental rotation. We conclude that high-precision, non-visual hand guidance is best achieved by distributing symbolic haptic cues across separate limbs and mapping them to a stable, allocentric coordinate system. These findings provide foundational design principles for creating immersive, hands-free guidance systems that preserve the user’s visual-attentional resources.