Domna Banakou

By immersing participants in consistent virtual environments, VR enhances study realism, reduces confounding variables, and improves procedural control, offering a promising solution for scientists interested in studying behavior “in the wild.” The availability and documentation of data enabled by VR also help address replicability challenges. Despite vast potential, VR research is hindered by fragmentation, proprietary tools, and a lack of standardized practices, which limit its overall impact. This collaborative study presents an interactive checklist to support VR research from across disciplines to meet three essential protocols—interoperability, procedural standardization, and data sharing—that address these challenges by promoting open science and providing a common, easy-to-evaluate format for researchers to present projects to ethics boards, reviewers, and beyond. Together, these protocols can help VR research overcome replication barriers, democratize access to advanced tools, and establish VR as a robust method for rigorous, replicable scientific inquiry.

Background: The original counterclockwise study carried out in the late 1970s provided an extreme example of “reminiscence therapy,” reporting improvements in older adults’ cognitive and physical functioning after they had lived for 5 days in a house set up as if decades earlier (the 1950s). We tested a virtual reality (VR) analog of this approach, enhanced by embodying participants in a virtual body that looked like themselves at the corresponding younger age. Objective: This study aimed to examine whether brief VR exposures combining (1) embodiment in a virtual body as one’s younger self and (2) immersion in an iconic past event improve age-related subjective and performance outcomes compared with a current-self VR control condition. Methods: We carried out a between-groups study with 23 healthy older adults (aged 65‐85 years; mean age 71.2, SD 4.03 years). Participants were randomly allocated to either a Young Self condition (n=11; mean 72.3, SD 4.17), where they were embodied in a virtual body that looked like themselves from the 1960s, or in a Current Self control condition (n=12; mean 70.1, SD 3.75), where participants were embodied in their current body. There were 5 sessions. In Session 1, participants completed a baseline assessment. There were then 2 VR exposures, approximately 1 week apart (Sessions 2‐3), and follow-ups at 1 week (Session 4) and approximately 2 weeks (Session 5) after the final VR exposure. Outcomes included subjective age, awareness of age-related change, World Health Organization–Five Well-Being Index, Trail Making Test performance, and physical functioning (eg, grip strength). Results: A hierarchical Bayesian analysis revealed that 1 week after the final VR exposure, those in the Young Self condition demonstrated lower subjective age than those in the Current Self condition (prob=.95). They had higher awareness of positive age-related change (prob=.89) and a higher score on the World Health Organization–Five Well-Being Index (prob=.84). Moreover, with respect to performance variables, they took less time to trace a trail (prob≥.99), made fewer mistakes in doing so (prob=.89), had greater right-hand (prob=.85) and left-hand (prob≥.99) grip strength. However, 2 weeks after their final VR exposure, these differences diminished apart from positive awareness of age-related change (prob=.82), trail-making mistakes (prob=.83), and left-hand grip strength (prob≥.99). Here, “prob” refers to posterior probability. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that even 2 short VR exposures, where people were embodied in their younger body and immersed in an iconic event from more than 50 years earlier, resulted in improvement in some age-related responses. This is encouraging for further research with more extensive VR experiences over a longer time period.

Current XR applications move beyond audiovisual information, with haptic feedback rapidly gaining ground. However, current haptic devices are still evolving and often struggle to combine key desired features in a balanced way. In this paper, we propose the development of a high-resolution haptic (HRH) system for perception enhancement, a wearable technology designed to augment extended reality (XR) experiences through precise and localized tactile feedback. The HRH system features a modular design with 58 individually addressable actuators, enabling intricate haptic interactions within a compact wearable form. Dual ESP32-S3 microcontrollers and a custom-designed system ensure robust processing and low-latency performance, crucial for real-time applications. Integration with the Unity game engine provides developers with a user-friendly and dynamic environment for accurate, simple control and customization. The modular design, utilizing a flexible PCB, supports a wide range of actuators, enhancing its versatility for various applications. A comparison of our proposed system with existing solutions indicates that the HRH system outperforms other devices by encapsulating several key features, including adjustability, affordability, modularity, and high-resolution feedback. The HRH system not only aims to advance the field of haptic feedback but also introduces an intuitive tool for exploring new methods of human–computer and XR interactions. Future work will focus on refining and exploring the haptic feedback communication methods used to convey information and expand the system’s applications.

Background: Exposure therapy (ET) for anxiety disorders involves introducing the participant to an anxiety-provoking situation over several treatment sessions. Each time, the participant is exposed to a higher anxiety-provoking stimulus; for example, in the case of fear of heights, the participant would successively experience being at a greater height. ET is effective, and its counterpart, virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy (VRET), where VR substitutes real-world exposure, is equally so. However, ET is time-consuming, requiring several sessions. Objective: This study aimed to compare the results of single-session exposure with those of traditional VRET with regard to reducing public speaking anxiety. Methods: We introduced a paradigm concerned with public speaking anxiety where the VR exposure occurred in a single session while the participant interacted with a virtual therapist. Over time, the therapist transformed into an entire audience with almost imperceptible changes. We carried out a feasibility study with 45 participants, comparing 3 conditions: single-session exposure (n=16, 36%); conventional multiple-session exposure (n=14, 31%), where the same content was delivered in successive segments over 5 sessions; and a control group (n=15, 33%), who interacted with a single virtual character to talk about everyday matters. A week later, the participants were required to speak on a stage in front of a large audience in VR. Results: Across most of the series of conventional public speaking anxiety measures, the single-session exposure was at least as effective in reducing anxiety as the multiple-session exposure, and both these conditions were better than the control condition. The 12-item Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker was used to measure public speaking anxiety levels, where higher values indicated more anxiety. Using a Bayesian model, the posterior probabilities of improvement compared to a high baseline were at least 1.7 times greater for single- and multiple-session exposures compared to the control group. The State Perceived Index of Competence was used as a measure of anticipatory anxiety for speaking on a stage in front of a large audience, where lower values indicated higher anxiety. The probabilities of improvement were just over 4 times greater for single- and multiple-session exposures compared to the control group for a low baseline and 489 (single) and 53 (multiple) times greater for a middle baseline. Conclusions: Overall, the results of this feasibility study show that for moderate public speaking anxiety, the paradigm of gradual change in a single session is worth following up with further studies with more severe levels of anxiety and a larger sample size, first with a randomized controlled trial with nonpatients and subsequently, if the outcomes follow those that we have found, with a full clinical trial with patients.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the potential of virtual reality (VR) as a powerful tool for storytelling and as a means of promoting empathy. This systematic review examines 20 research papers that were deemed relevant based on inclusion and exclusion criteria from a database of a total of 661 papers to investigate the use of VR for empathy-building through immersive storytelling. Thematic analysis of the interventions revealed that most of the narratives focused on the experiences of victims of abuse, social minorities, and individuals affected by medical conditions or political ramifications. These fall under three types of digital narratives identified as (a) personal, (b) historical, and (c) educational. Changes in empathy are identified either through comparisons with non-VR narratives or pre- and post-interventions. Interaction techniques, VR affordances, and methods to measure empathy are further identified. The review concludes that while VR shows promise as a tool for promoting empathy, more research is needed to fully understand its potential and limitations.

Research has shown that incorporating haptics into virtual environments can increase sensory fidelity and provide powerful and immersive experiences. However, current studies on haptics in virtual interactions primarily focus on one-on-one scenarios, while kinesthetic haptic interactions in large virtual gatherings are underexplored. This study aims to investigate the impact of kinesthetic haptics on eliciting emotional responses within crowded virtual reality (VR) scenarios. Specifically, we examine the influence of type or quality of the haptic feedback on the perception of positive and negative emotions. We designed and developed different combinations of tactile and torque feedback devices and evaluated their effects on emotional responses. To achieve this, we explored different combinations of haptic feedback devices, including “No Haptic,” “Tactile Stimulus” delivering tactile cues, and “Haptic Stimulus” delivering tactile and torque cues, in combination with two immersive 360-degree video crowd scenarios, namely, “Casual Crowd” and “Aggressive Crowd.” The results suggest that varying the type or quality of haptic feedback can evoke different emotional responses in crowded VR scenarios. Participants reported increased levels of nervousness with Haptic Stimulus in both virtual scenarios, while both Tactile Stimulus and Haptic Stimulus were negatively associated with pleasantness and comfort during the interaction. Additionally, we observed that participants’ sense of touch being real was enhanced in Haptic Stimulus compared to Tactile Stimulus. The “Haptic Stimulus” condition had the most positive influence on participants’ sense of identification with the crowd.