Effects of visual thermal cues on thermal perception and thermoregulation while cycling in virtual reality

Thermal perception and regulation are essential for physical exercise. The hue-heat hypothesis suggests that an environment's color temperature, e.g., warm reddish lighting or cold bluish lighting, affects thermal perception and regulation. Virtual reality (VR) enables immersion in any environment. Previous work showed that a VR environment can affect how warm or cold users feel during sedentary VR experiences. However, it is unclear whether such visual thermal cues also influence physiological and perceptual responses during physical exercise. Therefore, we conducted a controlled VR experiment (n = 34) examining whether a virtual heater, either activated or deactivated, influences skin temperature, thermal perception, and perceived exertion while cycling for 20 minutes in each condition. Activation of the virtual heater resulted in significantly higher skin temperature over time and increased thermal sensation compared to the deactivated heater, despite no differences in perceived exertion and heart rate responses. Thereby, we show that visual thermal cues can indeed influence users' thermal perception and thermophysiological responses during physical exercise. Our findings highlight the role of visual environmental cues in shaping thermoregulation during immersive physical exercises.