Key result
Viewing a less dizzying VR video first reduces skin conductance increases ~43% and lowers anxiety.
Why the study?
Cyber sickness complicates the use of virtual reality in anxious and distressed individuals, leading researchers to examine the association between skin conductance and anxiety during virtual reality exposure.
Does viewing a less dizzying VR video before a more dizzying one reduce anxiety and skin conductance in healthy volunteers with moderate-to-high stress?
RCT (n=81)
Open-label
Randomized crossover
No
Does viewing a less dizzying VR video before a more dizzying one reduce anxiety and skin conductance in healthy volunteers with moderate-to-high stress?
Viewing a less dizzying virtual reality video before a more dizzying one can significantly reduce anxiety and skin conductance compared to the reverse order.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May guide VR stimulus ordering to blunt autonomic and anxiety responses in stressed volunteers; extends graded exposure principles to immersive settings.
Introduction Despite the advantages of virtual reality (VR), cyber sickness makes it difficult to apply VR to those who are already anxious and in distress. Skin conductance (SC) is widely used as a bio-signal reflecting anxiety. It is positively correlated with anxiety. The objective of this study was to determine the association between SC and anxiety in VR. Methods Healthy volunteers with moderate-to-high stress defined as a Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) score ≥20 were enrolled. STAI-X-1 was used to measure anxiety, and galvanic skin response was used to measure SC. This study used an open, randomized, crossover design. In this study, 360° videos consisted of two types, namely, less dizzying video (G1) and more dizzying video (G2). We randomized subjects into two groups according to video exposure order: G1 after watching G2 (Order 1) and G2 after watching G1 (Order 2). Of 81 subjects, the average age (±SD) was 39.98 ± 10.94 years for the Order 1 group and 36.54 ± 12.44 years for the Order 2 group. Results Anxiety was significantly decreased in the Order 2 group ( p < 0.035) after watching videos, whereas there was no significant change in anxiety in the Order 1 group. In both groups, SC was significantly increased after exposure to a dizzying video. Mean difference (SD) between the second VR video and baseline SC was 1.61 (1.07) ( p < 0.0001) in the Order 1 group and 0.92 (0.90) ( p < 0.0001) in the Order 2 group, showing a significant difference between the two groups ( p < 0.003). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups ( p < 0.077) after baseline correction. Conclusion Anxiety was decreased significantly in the Order 2 group. The Order 1 group showed a high rate of change in skin conductivity. It is possible to reduce SC and anxiety by viewing a less dizzying VR video first and then viewing a more dizzying video later.
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Kim et al. (2023) conducted an RCT in Moderate-to-high stress (n=81). Less dizzying VR video followed by more dizzying VR video (Order 2) vs. More dizzying VR video followed by less dizzying VR video (Order 1) was evaluated on Mean difference in skin conductance between the second VR video and baseline (p=<0.003). Viewing a less dizzying virtual reality video before a more dizzying one resulted in a significantly lower increase in skin conductance (0.92 vs 1.61, p<0.003) and decreased anxiety compared to the reverse order.
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