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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality
10:38

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality

Published on: August 9, 2010

Is a dark virtual environment scary?

Alexander Toet1, Marloes van Welie, Joske Houtkamp

  • 1Department of Applied Perception, TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, The Netherlands. lex.toet@tno.nl

Cyberpsychology & Behavior : the Impact of the Internet, Multimedia and Virtual Reality on Behavior and Society
|June 12, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Nighttime lighting in virtual environments (VEs) did not increase anxiety, even after stress. This suggests desktop VEs may differ from immersive ones in eliciting fear responses, impacting serious gaming and training applications.

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Development of an Audio-based Virtual Gaming Environment to Assist with Navigation Skills in the Blind
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Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality
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Published on: August 9, 2010

Development of an Audio-based Virtual Gaming Environment to Assist with Navigation Skills in the Blind
09:01

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Published on: March 27, 2013

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Virtual Reality

Background:

  • Virtual environments (VEs) require controlled characteristics for emotional impact.
  • Humans exhibit a fear of darkness, exacerbated by stress, which can extend to immersive VEs.
  • Understanding how lighting affects user emotions in VEs is crucial for applications like serious gaming and training.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of nighttime lighting conditions and acute stress on the affective appraisal of a virtual environment (VE).
  • To determine if simulated illumination levels influence user emotions and memory for details within a VE, particularly after stress induction.
  • To compare the effects of lighting and stress in desktop VEs versus known effects in immersive VEs.

Main Methods:

  • Participants explored either a daytime or nighttime desktop VE after undergoing a psychosocial stress task (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) or a control task.
  • Affective appraisal was measured using the Russel and Pratt semantic questionnaire (valence, arousal).
  • Distress was assessed via salivary cortisol, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and heart rate; memory was tested using a recognition task.

Main Results:

  • Stress induction was confirmed by elevated cortisol, heart rate, and STAI scores in the stress group compared to the control group.
  • No significant differences were found in the affective appraisal (valence, arousal) of the VE based on lighting conditions (day vs. night), even after stress.
  • Memory for scenic details in the VE was not significantly affected by lighting conditions or prior stress.

Conclusions:

  • Simulated nighttime lighting in a desktop VE is insufficient to elicit anxiety or alter affective appraisal, even following acute stress.
  • Desktop VEs appear to differ from immersive VEs regarding the induction of fear responses related to darkness and stress.
  • Findings have implications for the design and deployment of desktop VEs in serious gaming and training, suggesting lighting alone may not be a primary driver of anxiety.