An Immersive and Interactive VR Dataset to Elicit Emotions.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Traditional methods for eliciting emotions using images and videos lack the ecological validity of real-world experiences.
• Virtual reality (VR) technology offers increasing realism, immersion, and interactivity, presenting an opportunity to enhance emotion elicitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the first interactive virtual reality dataset designed for effective and ecologically valid emotion elicitation.
• To enable researchers and practitioners to integrate emotion elicitation into immersive VR experiences.

Main Methods:

• Developed five interactive virtual environments based on validated 360° videos.
• Validated the effectiveness of these virtual environments in eliciting targeted emotions with 160 participants.

Main Results:

• The developed virtual environments successfully elicited targeted emotions in participants.
• The VR dataset provides a more immersive and interactive approach to emotion elicitation compared to existing image- or video-based methods.

Conclusions:

• Interactive virtual reality environments can effectively and rapidly elicit emotions with high ecological validity.
• This novel dataset supports the advancement of emotion research and application within virtual reality settings.