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Updated: Jun 2, 2025
07:09
Virtual Reality Experiments with Physiological Measures
Published on: August 29, 2018
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Risky behavior in virtual reality: The roles of personality, environment, and physiology
Dejan Pajić1, Selka Sadiković1, Milan Oljača1
1Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
Plos One
|January 13, 2025
Summary
Virtual reality (VR) research shows personality traits influence risk-taking before threats, while emotional arousal and environmental factors become key after negative feedback. This highlights VR
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Virtual Reality Research
Background:
- Virtual reality (VR) offers realistic simulations for observing human behavior.
- Understanding factors influencing risky decision-making is crucial for psychological research.
- Previous research has not fully explored the interplay of personality, arousal, and situational feedback in VR decision-making.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of anticipating reward/punishment, personality traits, and physiological arousal on risky decision-making in a VR context.
- To differentiate the influence of personality versus environmental factors on behavior before and after negative feedback within VR.
- To explore the utility of VR as a tool for psychological research and inform VR design for ecological validity.
Main Methods:
- Developed a custom VR game to simulate real-life scenarios and assess risky decision-making.
- Recruited 52 university students (63.46% female) from Serbia.
- Measured behavioral parameters (game time, steps, score, decision time) and physiological signals (heart rate, skin conductance, respiratory rate).
Main Results:
- Personality traits, specifically Fight and Freeze, significantly predicted VR behavior before negative feedback (R=0.572).
- These personality effects diminished after negative feedback.
- Emotional arousal, indicated by respiratory rate amplitude, became more significant after negative feedback (β = 0.337, p = 0.028).
Conclusions:
- Personality traits primarily shape behavior in VR environments before the introduction of threat.
- Environmental characteristics and emotional arousal gain importance in influencing decisions after negative feedback.
- VR is a valuable tool for psychological research, but objective measures are essential for accurate behavioral assessment.
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