Immersive Virtual Research Articles

Exploration of a virtual reality exercise to help train police with responding to mental health crises in the community.

A substantial number of police-citizen interactions involve a civilian presenting in a mental health crisis, often with law enforcement as the first point of contact. Traditional training methods offer minimal opportunity for police to practice navigating such civilian interactions or to develop and strengthen relevant skills. Virtual reality (VR) offers a promising avenue for addressing this gap by immersing police officers in realistic, controlled environments that could help them to acclimatise to these encounters and understand their own reactions to them. To examine the extent to which law enforcement officers become immersed in a virtual training environment (VTE), to assess their empathy and sympathy towards a non-player character (NPC) presenting with schizophrenic psychosis and how empathy and sympathy relate to virtual immersion. Forty police officers-about a fifth of the department approached-participated in a VR mental health training scenario. Officers' immersion in the VTE was assessed using a 28-item Presence Questionnaire and their empathy and sympathy were measured using adapted standard scales. The study employed Fisher's Exact Test and Spearman's correlation to analyse the relationships between immersion, empathy and sympathy. Most officers experienced good levels of immersion, although nearly half felt confused or disoriented at the beginning of the session. Officers reported moderate levels of sympathy and higher empathy towards a non-player character. Significant correlations were found between specific aspects of immersion (e.g. sensory engagement) and empathy. Fisher's Exact Test revealed strong associations between physical interactions in the VTE and empathy/sympathy. Our findings show that police are willing and able to engage in a VR exercise to learn about their response to people in a mental health crisis and that, in such circumstances, they can be both sympathetic and empathic. Next steps will be exploration of the value of such a tool to enhance real-life responding.

Virtual reality in specialized dentistry: employing virtual reality for the alleviation of pain and anxiety in hereditary angioedema patients.

Following an episode of hereditary angioedema (HAE), dental anxiety commonly arises, and many patients find it challenging to access proper care. While the use of virtual reality (VR) for pain and anxiety management in dentistry is on the rise, its application in individuals with angioedema remains largely unexplored. In a case series conducted at a specialized dental clinic, three patients with a history of acute angioedema attacks and dental anxiety engaged with 360° VR videos while seated in the dental chair, utilizing a virtual reality device. Three patients with hereditary angioedema were treated by subjecting them to virtual immersion using VR glasses. Intraoperative reactions were analyzed using VAS scales in order to report the patients' level of anxiety and pain. The outcomes, evaluated through a standard observation tool, surveys, and interviews, encompass the assessment of patient anxiety and pain, responses to VR, and the evaluation of system usability along with its impact on the dental team's workflow Three individuals underwent examination, from which three reliable questionnaires were obtained, demonstrating a success rate of 99.9%. The group included one male and two females, with their ages spanning from 6 to 58 years. The findings revealed an average anxiety score of 1.80 with a standard deviation of 0.6 points, and an average pain score of 1.98 with a standard deviation of 0.3, thus validating full immersion in distraction. Statistical analysis using independent-sample t-tests and ANOVA indicated no significant differences in anxiety levels among the patients based on gender. Both patients wore the VR device throughout the procedure, expressing that it was comfortable, diverting, and held the potential to alleviate anxiety and pain. The dentist noted a positive influence on patient anxiety levels and procedure completion times, expressing an intention to continue employing VR with other angioedema patients and across diverse clinical populations. Virtual reality can be an excellent distraction tool in patients with hereditary angioedema who present at least one acute attack per year.

Construction of user experience model iniImmersive virtual environment based on ontology

With the rapid development of virtual immersion technology, immersive virtual environment (IVE) has shown its unique application potential in many fields. The purpose of this study is to explore and construct a user experience model in immersive virtual environment based on ontological theory. The key factors affecting user experience include sensory experience, interaction control, distraction factors, realism perception, ownership, motion control and location. Environmental dimension and physical dimension are the two core aspects of user experience. Sensory experience and sense of ownership have a significant positive impact on users' sense of existence in a specific environment, while control dimension, sensory dimension and realism dimension play an important role in enhancing users' sense of ontology. The different dimensions of the sense of ontology have a significant positive impact on the user's sense of immersion and presence, which verifies the central role of the sense of ontology in enhancing the user's immersion experience. We look forward to further enhancing the user's immersion experience and promoting the application of immersive virtual environment in a wider range of fields

Virtual Immersion in STEM Education: A MICMAC Study on How Virtual Reality Impacts the Understanding and Application of Scientific Concepts

The integration of virtual reality into STEM education has generated growing interest in how this technology impacts the understanding and application of scientific concepts. This study focuses on investigating this relationship by using the MICMAC technique to identify key variables and their interactions in virtual educational environments. It was found that variables such as the design of educational content, the quality of the virtual experience, and the interactivity of the environment are key to the learning process in STEM. In addition, determinant and autonomous variables were identified, which play fundamental roles in the generation of scientific knowledge for students. These results highlight the relevance of considering various aspects of virtual educational design to improve the effectiveness of learning in STEM. The practical implications of this study are significant for educators and educational program designers, highlighting the need to create immersive, interactive, and collaborative virtual environments to promote better understanding and application of scientific concepts. This study contributes to existing knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of how virtual reality can enhance learning in STEM, and suggests directions for future research in the field.

BALANCING SENSORY STIMULATION/DEPRIVATION FROM THE ENVIRONMENT IN HEALTH-FORMING TECHNOLOGIES

The Medicine of the near future will develop not only along the path of improving diagnostics, treatment, rehabilitation, but also through the development of technologies for the formation (promotion) of health, human enhancement, and work productivity. It is clear that, due to their highly specialized multimodal sensory sensitivity, living systems are flexibly and plastically remodeling, changing structure and function in a completely physiological manner. Therefore, an attempt was made to conceptually and experimentally test the possibility of balancing sensory stimulation and sensory deprivation in their close dependence on the circadian sleep-wake cycle. A group of examined individuals practiced a mandatory evening walk in the park area for 40-60 minutes for 15 days and sensory deprivation by turning off artificial lighting, television, computer, gadgets and any other sensory signaling streams in the evening, starting from 8:00 pm and until going to bed (10:00 pm). The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) was applied to classify, qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the facial psychomotor reactions of a person in the dynamics of his emotional state and by this tool indirectly reflects the balance of the activating and rewarding systems. The results obtained suggest that after a 15-day course of “Balancing Sensory Stimulation/Deprivation” the examined individuals maintain a positive emotional state during virtual immersion in a safe environment in the morning after a night’s sleep compared to baseline measurements. It is strategically important to optimize labor, work, educational activities, prevent overload and fatigue, it is necessary to ensure the formation of a balance of circadian sensory stimulation and deprivation in combination with activities that improve the architecture and quality of sleep.

Особенности речемыслительной деятельности детей 5-7 лет в цифровую эпоху

The aim of the study is to determine the nature of the influence of the digital environment on the development of thinking and speech among modern preschoolers aged 5-7. The scientific novelty of the study lies in presenting the results of a conceptual-inferential and phenomenological analysis of speech material (children’s stories), which showed a slowdown in the ontogenesis of their cognitive development, which, of course, is one of the most important problems of the digital age. According to the data obtained during the diagnostics, the thinking and speech of children in more than 20% cases are at an average level, which is expressed in their ability to logically construct an oral text, grammatically correctly connect words in a sentence, using figurative and expressive means. In 14% of children, the level of cognitive abilities does not correspond to the age norm, which undoubtedly causes some concern among teachers and requires clarification of such an underdevelopment. Consciousness and thinking in such children develop according to a simplified model, through the operation with simple concepts and syntactic constructions. The research findings showed that the active use of digital devices by children for virtual immersion can lead to the formation of a digital worldview in the future, to a simplified model of speech communication.

Social Opportunities and Digitalized Communication of Genshin Impact Players

Genshin Impact (GI) became a global trend for online gaming culture in 2020. Many players greatly value it because of what it offers to their community. This study was conducted to understand the social interactions and communicative practices of Ilokano players of Genshin Impact. Guided by the concepts of the ethnomethodology tradition of qualitative communication research, 6 GI players participated in in-depth interviews and virtual immersion to document their narratives and practices on their social interactions and communicative practices. The theorizing evinced that social opportunities are the achievement in playing GI that is comprised of six sub-themes, which include: (1) Virtual Amity; (2) Virtual Emotional Sharing; (3) Introvert Friendly; (4) Cross-Cultural Virtual Encounters; (5) Otaku Community; and (6) Third-place. Meanwhile, digitalized communication emerged as the core category describing the communicative practices of GI players that consists of four sub-themes which include: (1) Discord (Extension of CMC); (2) Meta (Extension of CMC); (3) Genshin Impact Emojis; and (4) Face-to-Face. Hence, this theorizing revealed that playing Genshin Impact provides social opportunities and digitalized communication, improving GI players' social lives.

Immersive virtual reality and computer vision for heritage: visual evaluation and perception of the industrial heritage sites along the Yunnan–Vietnam railway (Yunnan section)

The visual composition and human perception are found to relate to the reuse and tourism of heritage railways. Previous studies have used either environmental audits and on-site interviews that have limitations in terms of cost, time, and measurement scale, or virtual perception base on two-dimension images but with gaps in interactivity, virtual immersion and field of view. This study developed an “objective + subjective” visual evaluation and perception framework integrating Computer Vision (CV) and Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) to assess the visual quality of industrial heritage sites along the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway (Yunnan Section). The stepwise multiple linear regression models were carried out to investigate the relationship between objective evaluation and subjective perception. The results showed that 16 landscape elements of the heritage sites were successfully segmented. According to the visual perception score bands, the 120 industrial heritage sites were classified as 39 high-score sites, 66 medium-score sites, and 15 low-score sites. In general, although the sky and hard ground accounted for a higher proportion, they had little effect on the sum scores, while the vegetation, water, and buildings played a significant role in the perception of visual quality. The results can help researchers, planners, and government departments clarify the visual quality to scientifically specify bottom-up planning and management solutions for railway industrial heritage sites. Moreover, the simplicity, accuracy, and effectiveness of this framework make it suitable for large-scale visual evaluation of other railway industrial heritage sites and linear heritage sites.

Architectonic Design Supported by Visual Environmental Simulation—A Comparison of Displays and Formats

Visual environmental simulations are fundamental in understanding the relationship between the built environment and psychological perception. The remarkable evolution of virtual immersion displays over recent years has provided a series of advantages to the architectural discipline, one of which is that non-specialists now have the potential to better understand architectural spaces. This work aimed to analyse the adequacy of the main displays and formats currently used in environmental simulations. As the objective was twofold, two experimental studies were carried out (with a sample of 100 participants). The studies evaluated users’ responses to different environmental representations of two environments, using differential semantic scales to measure key underlying factors (utility, credibility, realism, accuracy, abstraction). The first study examined simulation displays: a PC, an HTC Vive Pro 2 head-mounted display, a PowerWall Screen and a CAVE. In the second, formats were analysed: normal image, 360° image, video and 360° video. The results of this work revealed that users perceived the space differently depending on the representation displays and formats used. Such comparisons of these new means of representing architectural spaces can be helpful to researchers, architects and urban planning professionals and might provoke debate in, and be extrapolated into, the design field.

Faraway, so Close: Perceptions of the Metaverse on the Edge of Madness

With the evolution of technologies, virtual reality allows us to dive into cyberspace through different devices and have immersive experiences in different contexts, which, in a simple way, we call virtual worlds or multiverse (integrating Metaverse versions). Through virtual reality, it is possible to create infinite simulated environments to immerse ourselves in. Future internet may be slightly different from what we use today. Virtual immersion situations are common (particularly in gaming), and the Metaverse has become a lived and almost real experience claiming its presence in our daily lives. To investigate possible perspectives or concepts regarding the Metaverse, virtual reality, and immersion, we considered a main research question: To what extent can a film centered on the multiverse be associated with adults’ Metaverse perceptions? Considering that all participants are adults, the objectives of this study are: (1) Verify the representations of the Metaverse; (2) Verify the representations of immersion; (3) Verify the representations of the multiverse; (4) Verify the importance of a film (related to the Metaverse and the multiverse) on the representations found. This study—framed in a Ph.D. research project—analyzed the participants’ answers through an online survey using two films to gather thoughts, ideas, emotions, sentiments, and reactions according to our research objectives. Some limitations were considered, such as the number of participants, number of the questionnaire questions and the knowledge or lack of the main concepts. Our results showed that a virtual world created by a movie might stimulate the perception of almost living in that supposed reality, accepting the multiverse and Metaverse not as distant concepts but as close experiences, even in an unconscious form. This finding is also a positive contribution to a discussion in progress aiming for an essential understanding of the Metaverse as a complex concept.

Linguistic Immersion in the Context of Digital Transformation

Linguistic immersion has always been considered an important approach to foreign language learning. It is seen as a pedagogical approach that promotes second-language learning. This article highlights linguistic immersion in the context of digital transformation, as compared to traditional language teaching approaches. It also scrutinizes the role of linguistic acculturation in immersion and building bridges among cultures. Moreover, it tries to find out how language is used to enrich the issue of acculturation, or even cultural assimilation, and how foreign language teaching (FLT) is estimated as a focal point in this same issue. Finally, this article discusses the impact of digitalization in facilitating linguistic immersion by using digital advancement to create virtual immersion capable of emulating the traditional linguistic immersion approach. Thus, immersive technologies are considered facilitators of second-language learning. This study will examine the different technologies available for linguistic immersion and how they can be applied in second-language classrooms. This study is done in the form of focus group discussion and individual interviews (12 participants) at the level of S2 students at the Poly-disciplinary faculty of Nador, Mohamed 1st University, the choice of the participants was based on their spoken performance during the class discussion.

Online Museums as a Complex Work of Art

Since the 21st century, digitalization has been actively implemented in all spheres of life, and this trend is relevant for Russian museums. The main content of the museum's digital environment is characterized by visual diversity and various communication accents. The same theme or exhibitions can be exploited in various visual forms, which allows you to see different shows. An important component of visual content is its split-screen implementation, which partially restores the lost material architectonics to the abstract digital space, or rather, creates an illusion of such a process. The purpose of this article is to analyze the digital museum as a complex art object. As a result of the study, it is concluded that the key features of the subject are media integration, the variability of communication modes, game manipulation of exhibiting objects, and in some cases overacted conceptuality. Communication with the digital museum’s content includes elements of interactivity, virtual immersion in the environment. All of these are characterized by a mostly private tone. By all its activities in the virtual media environment, the museum demonstrates the desire to correspond to modernity, to be an integral element of today's public culture, to have a memorable image.

The Future of Higher Education: Implementation of Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Educational Process

The introduction of VR and AR into the higher education is a particularly interesting phenomenon for the education of the future. Thus, the aim of the study was to determine the impact of using VR and AR as a possible strategy to enhance teaching in higher education institutions and as a replacement for outdated teaching methods. Virtual and augmented realities are tools that enable dynamic training in a virtual environment by facilitating the management of its components. Virtual immersion in the process of the information comprehension allows students exploring complex environments and situations by manipulating the elements that make up the environment. The purpose of this study is to analyse the introduction of VR and AR in the learning process as a favourable area of the development of higher education. The analysis of the relevance and effectiveness of virtual artefacts in higher education was obtained using the following methods: a literature review was used in the research to systematically gather, analyse, and synthesize existing published literature on the topic. The next stage was the observation, data analysis and interpretation. The results of the work were obtained through a double analysis. First, the state of the art of the related literature was investigated, and second, the impact on students was assessed, offering an innovative alternative to traditional teaching methods at the pedagogical faculties where the observation was conducted. Search engines revealed 2300 articles on the use of VR and AR in higher education. As a result of the selection and verification process, only 50 state-of-the-art sources from 2018-2023 were selected (taking into account the scientific novelty of the topic). An observation of students obtained data to evaluate the implementation of resources in higher education by key elements: motivation, design, and collaboration. The question of whether the use of educational artefacts in VR and AR is applicable in the perspective of higher education and the values that should guide their strategy is revealed. Conclusions present the scientific and students’ opinion in terms of the implementation of VR and AR in higher education. This research questions are revealed, the advantages and disadvantages, concepts and paradigms in this area are identified. The position on the significance of VR and AR as a pedagogical instrument is presented.

Improvement of Attention in Subjects Diagnosed with Hyperkinetic Syndrome using BIOVIT Simulator

This study aimed to stimulate the brain's executive function through a series of tasks and rules based on dynamic perceptual stimuli using the Biotechnology Virtual Immersion Simulator (BIOVIT) and thus evaluate its usefulness to maintain and increase attention levels in subjects diagnosed with hyperkinetic syndrome. With a quantitative methodology framed in a longitudinal trend design, the cause of the exposure-outcome relationships was studied using the BIOVIT simulator. Exploratory analysis of oscillatory brain activity was measured using a graphical recording of brain electrical activity and attention levels. Data consisted of 77,566 observations from n = 18 separately studied participants. The findings established that the BIOVIT simulator maintained and increased the attention levels of the participants by 77.8%. Furthermore, the hypothesis was tested that virtual reality immersion technologies significantly affect attention levels in participants aged 8 to 12. The evidence shows that the BIOVIT simulator is an alternative to developing learning methodologies in vulnerable populations. The low implementation costs and the diversity of academic applications may allow schools in developing countries to solve this problem that afflicts thousands of children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

Digital business model innovation in metaverse: How to approach virtual economy opportunities

In recent times, continuous evolutions in digital technologies are triggering new business models (BMs) within virtual environments. This phenomenon is defining a new economy staging in so-called metaverses. Here, physical-world BMs are modified, virtual-world BMs are implemented, and combinations of physical-world and virtual-world BMs are performed. As a result, new mechanisms of value creation and value capture at the crossroads of physical and virtual economies arise in the metaverse. This paper aims at understanding which are these value mechanisms and how organizations can develop them. To this aim, the paper analyzes the cases of four cross-industry incumbents (namely, Gucci, Samsung, Hyundai, and Nike), which are pivoting their BMs in the metaverse. A framework indicating how to innovate BMs in the metaverse is provided, by looking at both “phygital” transformations (i.e., transformations aimed at joining physical and digital worlds’ realities) and completely virtual immersions shaping firms’ internal processes and relationships with customers. In this way, the paper supports companies in turning the metaverse into value, while also extends the scant academic knowledge on the metaverse’ impact on innovation of BMs.

Evaluating Learning Outcomes of Virtual Reality Applications in Education: A Proposal for Digital Cultural Heritage

The surge of Mobile Virtual Reality (VR) applications is getting growing attention among researchers and practitioners. The recent literature demonstrates its benefits when used for education purposes, since virtual immersion yields promising results for learning. Leveraging this trend, within the so called “digital didactics”, the need to gauge VR’s effectiveness in the didactic field has become paramount; so far, a method to connect traditional evaluation strategies to novel VR-based learning is still broadly missing. This paper investigates the problem of quantifying the learning outcomes and proposes a new didactic evaluation method for the Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH) learning. This research, conducted in a higher education institute, proposes three new Key Performance Indicators, referring to Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (RBT) : Mnemonic (M) , Transversal (T) , and Disciplinary (D) . A questionnaire was administered by the same teacher who holds the course, to evaluate how well the application communicated information. The participants have been subdivided into two groups with the same knowledge base. The first group (1ACAT) that represents the “VR group” used the app at home to deepen their subject studies; while the second group (1AGR) that represents the “control group” consulted and studied the app only before the test. The results have demonstrated that the “control group” has a greater ability to support purely mnemonic topics (1ACAT 46.9%, 1AGR 53.1%), such as dates and simple definitions. The skills reached by the “VR group” attest to both transveral (1ACAT 52.9%, 1AGR 47.1%) and disciplinary (1ACAT 52.5%, 1AGR 47.5%) knowledge. These results validate the use of VR in teaching, demonstrating both experiential value and student involvement, but even confirming the compensatory function of VR if compared with the irreplaceable role of teachers in guiding learners to learn.

Virtual Immersive Contact: A Field Experiment to Reduce Prejudice and Discrimination in Central African Republic

This present research explores a progressive repurposing of Virtual Reality technology, Virtual Immersive Contact (VIC), in a real-world setting to; explore viability to reduce prejudice and investigate the role of empathy in motivating prosocial behavior. The study employed a between-subjects repeated-measures experimental design of a randomized sample ( n = 113) split into two conditions to reduce prejudice and discrimination in the active conflict area of the Central African Republic (CAR). In line with the study’s hypotheses, VIC produced a significant increase in empathic concern for the Muslim outgroup and intentions to donate to a Muslim family, while also showing that the relationship between empathy and helping behaviours was mostly explained by confounding variables. This research provides both the first evidence of its kind that VIC could be a new form of fostering positive intergroup contact in an active conflict setting, crating a new facet of intergroup contact theory, and further evolving the literature on the empathy, prosocial behaviour relationship.

Improving geometric road design through a virtual reality visualization technique

Traffic accidents could often be avoided with more in-depth studies of traffic and the geometric layout, using, for example, driving simulators to simulate traffic conditions. The objective of this study is to qualitatively evaluate three types of visualization techniques for examining a road project (one in a 2D printed project and the others using a driving simulator in a virtual immersion system and screen visualization). The results were evaluated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process-AHP method, used to establish different weights for the analyzed variables. For this, a questionnaire was applied to undergraduate students in Civil Engineering to compare the techniques. The results show that the immersive simulation visualization has sufficient quality and can contribute to the validation of geometric designs.

Engagement of Online Biobehavioral Health Students in Ethics Education Through Virtual Immersive Experiences

In public health, ethics is a core competency. Accordingly, ethical decision-making should be part of the curriculum for all students seeking to enter the profession. Evidence suggests simulation may positively impact student learning of ethics. Yet, engaging in a traditional simulative or immersive experience is inaccessible to many students. Instead, could participation in virtual immersive experiences serve as a proxy for promoting student outcomes for ethical decision-making in public health? This quasi-experimental mixed methods study examined whether the integration of 360° videos in an undergraduate online health ethics course enhanced intended ethical decision-making. Undergraduate students ( n = 26) provided access to two assignments or artifacts. These artifacts were analyzed in accordance with a tailored rubric to explore differences in five constructs of ethical reasoning when writing assignments were completed with ( n = 13), or without ( n = 13), an integrated 360° video component. The results show the 360° videos enhanced the students’ ability to engage in ethical reasoning, with significant differences in rater scores being noted across multiple constructs. The data were also analyzed qualitatively. Students in the intervention group engaged in a process of “compassionate calculus,” integrating various elements of empathy, compassion, and self-awareness toward a clinical outcome. Together these findings demonstrate the capacity of virtual immersive experience to support students in the enhancement of intended ethical decision-making through the development of greater compassion or empathic concern. This study provides evidence to guide the continued integration of virtual immersive experiences into undergraduate public health education.

Approach in Health-Forming Technologies Based on the Balancing Sensory Stimulation/Deprivation from the Environment

The Medicine of the near future will develop not only along the path of improving diagnostics, treatment, rehabilitation, but also through the development of technologies for the formation (promotion) of health, human enhancement, and work productivity. It is clear that, due to their highly specialized multimodal sensory sensitivity, living systems are flexibly and plastically remodeling, changing structure and function in a completely physiological manner. Therefore, an attempt was made to conceptually and experimentally test the possibility of balancing sensory stimulation and sensory deprivation in their close dependence on the circadian sleep-wake cycle. A group of examined individuals practiced a mandatory evening walk in the park area for 40-60 minutes for 15 days and sensory deprivation by turning off artificial lighting, television, computer, gadgets and any other sensory signaling streams in the evening, starting from 8:00 pm and until going to bed (10:00 pm). The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) was applied to classify, qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the facial psychomotor reactions of a person in the dynamics of his emotional state and by this tool indirectly reflects the balance of the activating and rewarding systems. The results obtained suggest that after a 15-day course of “Balancing Sensory Stimulation/Deprivation” the examined individuals maintain a positive emotional state during virtual immersion in a safe environment in the morning after a night's sleep compared to baseline measurements. It is strategically important to optimize labor, work, educational activities, prevent overload and fatigue, it is necessary to ensure the formation of a balance of circadian sensory stimulation and deprivation in combination with activities that improve the architecture and quality of sleep.