Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly maturing technology that offers new and unique solutions to otherwise intractable problems in the study of cognition, behavior and neuroscience. VR removes many of the constraints imposed by laboratory paradigms, allowing us to track cognitive, behavioral and brain responses to naturalistic (or even impossible) situations without sacrificing experimental control. But VR is not a tool that can be swiftly and effortlessly integrated into existing research pipelines; currently, the benefits of VR are accompanied by a host of methodological challenges and important practical considerations. To help navigate this new methodology, this volume provides a balanced review of both the exciting new findings emerging from VR labs and the challenges and limitations that are part and parcel of VR research.       This volume is an important first step toward establishing a standardised methodology for conducting research in VR. To this end, the volume provides a wealth of practical advice for researchers who are new to the technology. This volume is authored by an interdisciplinary team of VR researchers including computer scientists, engineers, psychologists and neuroscientists. It highlights current research in the field to demonstrate how VR advances our understanding of the mind, while also providing groundbreaking solutions in applied domains.

lgli/4599.pdf

lgrsnf/4599.pdf

Maymon, Christopher; Grimshaw, Gina; Wu, Ying Choon

Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, 2023

Switzerland, Switzerland

producers:
Adobe PDF Library 10.0.1

Preface
Contents
Part I: Methods in Virtual Reality Research
The Promises and Pitfalls of Virtual Reality
1 Introduction to the Volume
2 How Psychological Scientists and Virtual Realities Have Worked Together from the Start
3 How Immersive Devices Create an Illusion of Presence
3.1 Why Presence Is So Important
4 The Potential of Virtual Reality for Behavioral Neuroscience Research
4.1 VR Puts Our Participants in Highly Controlled Multisensory Environments
4.2 VR Facilitates Translational Neuroscience Research
4.3 VR Affords Ecologically Valid Behaviors
4.4 VR Yields Rich Multivariate Data
4.5 VR Promotes Direct and Conceptual Replication
4.6 The Impact of VR on Research Ethics: Challenges and Opportunities
5 Experimental Research Using VR: Recommendations for Best Practices
5.1 Recommendation 1: Anticipate That People May Differ in Their Response to Being in VR by Adding a Baseline Measure of the D...
5.2 Recommendation 2: Avoid Tasks That Require Participants to Remain in VR for Long Periods of Time
5.3 Recommendation 3: Conduct Rigorous Pilot Studies of New VR Scenarios to Help Identify Potential Nuisance Variables
5.4 Recommendation 4: Don ́t Try to Go It Alone
5.5 Recommendation 5: Recognize When Using VR Is Not Appropriate
6 Conclusions
References
Launching Your VR Neuroscience Laboratory
1 Introduction
2 Behind the Magic of Virtual Reality
2.1 Visuo-Spatial Cues
2.2 Engaging with Single- and Multi-Player Virtual Spaces
2.3 Sensory Engagement and Immersion
2.4 Creating Immersive Content
3 VR as a Research Tool
3.1 Safety and Comfort in VR
3.2 Choosing a Suitable HMD
3.3 Eye-tracking in VR
3.4 Synchronizing Multimodal Signals and Recordings of Game Play
3.5 Capturing Video
4 Conclusion
References
Monitoring Brain Activity in VR: EEG and Neuroimaging
1 Introduction
2 Different Approaches to Creating Virtual Environments
3 VR Hardware Options
4 Using EEG to Monitor Electrophysiological Brain Responses in VR
4.1 Stationary EEG: Oscillations
4.2 Stationary EEG: Event-Related Potentials
4.3 Mobile EEG and VR
4.4 Mobile EEG and VR: Movement Artifacts
5 Using Neuroimaging to Monitor Brain Activity in VR
5.1 fMRI
5.2 fNIRS
6 Neurostimulation Techniques and VR
7 Conclusion
References
Eye Tracking in Virtual Reality
1 Why Track Eyes in VR?
2 VR and Eye Tracking: Hardware
2.1 Stimulus Hardware
2.2 Eye-Tracker Hardware
2.3 Head-Tracker Hardware
3 VR and Eye Tracking: Software
3.1 Unity
3.2 Unreal Engine
3.3 Vizard
3.4 Stimuli
4 Eye and Head Movements in 360 Scenes: An Example in Unity
4.1 Unity 3D Environment
4.2 Experimental Control Flow
4.3 Script Experiment.cs
4.4 Eye Tracking Implementation
5 Data Handling
5.1 Reference Frames
5.2 Fixation and Saccade Detection
5.3 Using Spherical Coordinates
6 Data Analysis
6.1 Gaze Measures
6.2 Analysis of Saccades
6.3 Head Analysis
6.4 Eyes
6.4.1 Spatial Relation Between Gaze and Head
6.4.2 Temporal Relation Between Gaze and Head
6.5 Observations on Eye and Head Movement Behavior While Looking at 360 Scenes
7 Open Questions and Future Directions
References
Part II: VR to Study the Mind
Virtual Reality for Spatial Navigation
1 Spatial Navigation as an Embodied Experience
2 Strategies for Spatial Navigation
3 Neural Basis of Spatial Navigation
3.1 The Parietal Cortex and Multisensory Integration
3.2 The Medial Temporal Network
3.3 The Retrosplenial Complex
4 Non-immersive Virtual Reality Setups for Spatial Navigation
4.1 Free Manipulation of Space
4.2 Compatibility with Neuroimaging
4.3 Challenges with Transferring Animal Paradigms to Human Studies
4.4 Beyond Real-World Space
4.5 Enhanced Replicability
5 From Non-immersive to Immersive VR for Spatial Navigation Research
5.1 Locomotion Interfaces, Sensory Immersion, and Embodied Spatial Navigation
5.2 Better Approximation of Real Life in Immersive VR
5.3 Inclusion of Body-Based Cues
5.4 Embodied Affordances
5.5 Reduced Conflict Between Reference Frames
6 Locomotion Interfaces in Immersive VR for Spatial Navigation
6.1 Neuroimaging in Stationary VR with Unrestricted Head Motion
6.2 Semi-Mobile Neuroimaging in Immersive VR
6.3 Fully Mobile Neuroimaging in VR
7 Conclusion
References
Virtual Reality for Vision Science
1 Introduction
2 What Is Vision, and How Do We Study It Scientifically?
2.1 The Ambient Optic Array
2.2 The Retinal Image
2.3 The Visual System
2.4 What Is Vision Science?
2.4.1 Responses of the Visual System to the Ambient Optic Array
2.4.2 The Use of Visual Information to Control Behaviour
2.4.3 The Phenomenological Experience of Seeing
3 The Role of Display Technology in Shaping Vision Science
3.1 Simple Visual Patterns
3.2 Pictures of Physical Objects
3.3 The Ambient Optic Array Sampled from a Specific Viewpoint
3.4 The Ambient Optic Array of a Freely Moving Observer, Interacting with a 3-Dimensional World
3.5 The Ambient Optic Array of a Freely Moving Observer, Interacting with a 3-Dimensional World
4 New Tasks for New Stimuli
5 A Vision Science of Natural Environments and Natural Tasks
6 Hardware and Software Characteristics of Virtual Reality
6.1 The Environment
6.2 Motion Tracking and Latency
6.3 Rendering the Images
6.4 The Display Screen
6.5 Headset Optics
6.6 Positioning of the Display Screens and Lenses Relative to the Observer
7 Conclusions
References
VR for Studying the Neuroscience of Emotional Responses
1 Introduction
2 Presence and Immersion
3 Emotion Induction in Virtual Reality
4 Negative Emotions and Avoidance
5 Positive Emotions and Approach
6 Conclusions
References
VR for Cognition and Memory
1 Introduction
2 Enhancing the Ecological Validity of Memory Research with VR
2.1 Primacy of Space and Context
2.1.1 Context Dependence
2.2 Impact of Immersion and Presence
2.3 Impact of Embodiment, Enactment, and Extension
2.3.1 Embodied Cognition
2.3.2 Enacted Cognition
2.3.3 Extended Cognition
2.4 Impact of Environmental Enrichment
3 VR Bridges the Gap Between RW and Lab-Based Memories
3.1 Human Analogs of Non-human Research
3.2 Studying Different Types of Memory with VR
3.2.1 Spatial Memory (SM)
3.2.2 Short-Term Memory (STM)
Working Memory (WM)
Prospective Memory (PM)
3.2.3 Long-Term Declarative Memory: Semantic Memory
3.2.4 Long-Term Declarative Memory: Episodic
3.2.5 Long-Term Nondeclarative/Procedural Memory
3.2.6 RW Memory Modulators in VR
3.2.7 Impact of Emotion
3.2.8 Cognitive Load/Attention
3.2.9 Impact of Volition
3.3 VR to RW Transfer
4 VR-Based Memory Assessments
4.1 Profiling Memory-Impaired Populations
5 VR-Based Cognitive Rehabilitation and Enhancement
5.1 Healthy Aging
5.2 Back to Baseline
5.3 Above Baseline
6 Outro
References
Virtual Reality for Awe and Imagination
1 Introduction
2 An Overview on Transformation and Transformative Experiences
2.1 The Emotional Side of Transformation: Awe as the Acme of Emotion Science
2.2 The Epistemic Side of Transformation
2.2.1 The Link Between Emotion and Cognition: A Précis
2.2.2 Awe and Cognition
Awe: The Case for Creativity
3 Virtual Reality for Studying the Awe-Creativity Link
3.1 Awe: Imagining New Possible Worlds
3.2 Virtual Reality for Inviting TEs by Depicting a New Possible World: A Proposal of Applications
4 Conclusions
References
Using Extended Reality to Study the Experience of Presence
1 Introduction
2 Presence
2.1 Presence in XR
2.2 Measuring Presence
2.3 Disorders of Presence in Clinical Conditions
3 Perceptual Presence
3.1 Perceptual Presence and `Mastery ́ of Sensorimotor Contingencies
3.2 Using Binocular Suppression to Measure Perceptual Presence
4 When Presence Is Not Enough: Beyond Virtual Reality
4.1 Layers of Veridicality
4.2 Substitutional Reality: A Promising Naturalistic XR Framework
5 Conclusions
References
Part III: Applications of VR
Virtual Reality for Learning
1 Introduction
2 State of the Art of VR-Learning
2.1 Advantages of Virtual Reality vs. Traditional Learning
2.2 Learning Theories and iVR
2.3 Examples of Success of iVR Applications in Learning
2.4 Developing iVR for Learning
2.5 Limitations to the Application of Virtual Reality in Learning
3 Future Trends in VR-Learning
4 Conclusions
References
VR for Pain Relief
1 Introduction
2 VR and Pain
2.1 Evidence for Using Immersive VR for Pain Distraction
2.2 Evidence for Using Virtual Embodiment for Pain Relief
3 Creating Effective Analgesic VR Illusions
4 Current Trends and Future Directions of IVR in the Field of Pain
4.1 Recent Developments in IVR and Biosignal Research
4.2 VR for Pain Psychotherapy
4.3 Immersive VR for Cancer Pain, Palliative, and Intensive Care
4.4 VR for Pain Diagnosis and Simulation
5 Conclusions
References
Virtual Reality for Motor and Cognitive Rehabilitation
1 Overview of VR Systems
1.1 Key Elements of the VR System
1.2 Framework for the Description of VR Systems
2 Learning and Neurorehabilitation
2.1 Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition
2.2 VR Can Effectively Facilitate Learning
3 Stroke
3.1 Upper Limb and Hand
3.2 Postural Control/Balance and Gait
3.3 Adaptive Locomotion
3.4 Cognition
4 Parkinson ́s Disease
4.1 Upper Extremity
4.2 Postural Control/Balance and Gait
4.3 Cognitive-Motor Interaction
4.4 Freezing of Gait
4.5 VR Use for Cognitive Rehabilitation in PD
5 Conclusions
References
Virtual Reality Interventions for Mental Health
1 Introduction
2 Anxiety Disorders
2.1 Specific Phobias
2.2 Social Phobia
2.3 Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
2.4 General Anxiety
3 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
4 Schizophrenia
4.1 Hallucinations and Paranoid Ideations
4.2 Social Skills
5 Neurodevelopmental Disorders
5.1 Autism Spectrum Disorder
5.2 Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders
6 Eating Disorders
7 Contraindications and Limitations for the Use of Virtual Reality
8 Future Perspectives
References

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rapidly maturing technology that offers new and unique solutions to otherwise intractable problems in the study of cognition, behavior and neuroscience. VR removes many of the constraints imposed by laboratory paradigms, allowing us to track cognitive, behavioral and brain responses to naturalistic (or even impossible) situations without sacrificing experimental control. But VR is not a tool that can be swiftly and effortlessly integrated into existing research pipelines; currently, the benefits of VR are accompanied by a host of methodological challenges and important practical considerations. To help navigate this new methodology, this volume provides a balanced review of both the exciting new findings emerging from VR labs and the challenges and limitations that are part and parcel of VR research.
Erscheinungsdatum: 29.09.2023

2024-03-28