Empirical Research Using Virtual Reality

Virtual reality makes it possible to study complex situations under controlled, standardised and repeatable conditions. VR is therefore particularly suitable for empirical studies in which behaviour, emotion, perception, attention and physiological responses need to be recorded in realistic yet experimentally controllable environments.

Virtual reality is used as a method in both basic and applied empirical research. Compared with conventional experimental settings, VR allows researchers to create interactive, immersive and reproducible environments while maintaining a high degree of experimental control.

This makes VR suitable for studies in which stimuli, situational parameters and environmental conditions need to be systematically manipulated and behavioural, emotional or physiological responses need to be recorded under controlled conditions.

Advantages of Virtual Reality in Empirical Research

Virtual reality offers several advantages as a research method:

• Virtual environments and VR simulations are highly standardisable, controllable and repeatable compared with real-world situations.
• Stimuli, situational parameters and environmental conditions can be systematically manipulated under controlled experimental conditions.
• VR studies offer higher ecological validity than pen-and-paper studies or studies using image or video stimuli, while still allowing near-complete experimental control.
• VR systems enable the implicit recording of behavioural measures such as approach behaviour, head, body and eye movements, with a wide range of options for analysing objective data.
• VR simulations are modifiable and reusable.

Research Projects Using CyberSession VR and VTplus VR Research Systems – Selection

In various collaborative research programmes and scientific projects, virtual environments and VR research systems have been used for the controlled investigation of behaviour, emotion, anxiety, stress and safety-related behaviour. The following examples illustrate selected application contexts of CyberSession VR and VTplus VR research systems in empirical research.

PROTECT-AD
In the BMBF-funded collaborative research programme PROTECT-AD, mechanisms and care concepts for the treatment of anxiety disorders were investigated. Virtual reality was used in the context of psychophysiological and clinical research, including studies on anxiety, extinction learning and therapeutically relevant mechanisms of action.

CRC / TRR 58 “Fear, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders”
The Collaborative Research Centre / Transregio 58 investigated the mechanistic foundations of fear, anxiety and anxiety disorders. Virtual reality was used as a controllable research method to record emotional responses, behaviour and neurophysiological processes in realistic situations.

SKRIBT / SKRIBT+
In the safety research projects SKRIBT and SKRIBT+, virtual environments were used to investigate behaviour in critical transport infrastructures. VR enabled controllable, repeatable and ethically acceptable studies of stress, information processing and evacuation behaviour in hazardous situations.

Selected Studies Using VTplus VR Research Systems

The following selected studies used VTplus VR research systems for experimental control, simulation and data acquisition. The studies are grouped by research area: anxiety research, therapy research, safety research, neurophysiological research and further experimental-psychological research.

Anxiety Research

• Daniel Bellinger, Kristin Wehrmann, Anna Rohde et al. The application of virtual reality exposure versus relaxation training in music performance anxiety: a randomized controlled study , 15 June 2023, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2967418/v1
• Kroczek, Leon & Mühlberger, Andreas. (2023). Public speaking training in front of a supportive audience in Virtual Reality improves performance in real-life. Scientific Reports. 13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41155-9.
• Pfaller, M., Kroczek, L., Lange, B., Fülöp, R., Müller, M. & Mühlberger, A. (2021). Social Presence as a Moderator of the Effect of Agent Behavior on Emotional Experience in Social Interactions in Virtual Reality. Frontiers in Virtual Reality. 2. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2021.741138.
• Lange B., Pauli P. (2019). Social anxiety changes the way we move – A social approach-avoidance task in a virtual reality CAVE system. PLoS ONE 14(12): e0226805. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226805
• Gromer, D., Madeira, O., Gast, P., Nehfischer, M., Jost, M., Müller, M., … & Pauli, P. (2018). Height Simulation in a Virtual Reality CAVE System: Validity of Fear Responses and Effects of an Immersion Manipulation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 372. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00372
• Reichenberger, J., Diemer, J., Zwanzger, P., Notzon, S., & Mühlberger, A. (2017). Soziales Kompetenztraining in Virtueller Realität bei sozialer Angst: Validierung relevanter Interaktionssituationen. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 46, 236-247. doi: 10.1026/1616-3443/a000444
• Reichenberger, J., Porsch, S., Wittmann, J., Zimmermann, V., & Shiban, Y. (2017). Social Fear Conditioning Paradigm in Virtual Reality: Social vs. Electrical Aversive Conditioning. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1979. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01979
• Shiban, Y., Peperkorn, H., Alpers, G., Pauli, P. & Mühlberger, A. (2016). Influence of perceptual cues and conceptual information on the activation and reduction of claustrophobic fear. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry.(2016) Volume 51, Pages 19-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.11.002
• Shiban, Y., Reichenberger, J., Neumann, I. D., & Mühlberger, A. (2015). Social conditioning and extinction paradigm: A translational study in virtual reality. Front Psychol, 6, 400. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00400
• Glotzbach-Schoon, E; Andreatta, M; Mühlberger, A; Pauli, P (2013). Context conditioning in virtual reality as a model for pathological anxiety.e-Neuroforum. 2013;4,3:63-70. doi: 10.1007/s13295-013-0047-z
• Glotzbach-Schoon, E., Tadda, R., Andreatta, M., Tröger, C., Ewald, H., Grillon, C., Pauli, P., Mühlberger, A.(2013). Enhanced Discrimination Between Threatening and Safe Contexts in High-Anxious Individuals. Biological Psychology. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.01.011
• Peperkorn HM, Mühlberger A. (2013). The impact of different perceptual cues on fear and presence in virtual reality. Studies in Health Technololgy and Informatics. 2013;191:75-9. PMID
• Glotzbach, E., Ewald, H., Andreatta, M., Pauli, P., Mühlberger, A. (2012) Contextual fear conditioning predicts subsequent avoidance behavior in a virtual reality environment. Cognition and Emotion. 26, 1256-1272. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2012.656581
• Mühlberger, A., Neumann, R., Lozo, L., Müller, M. & Hettinger, M. (2012). Bottom-up and top-down influences of beliefs on emotional responses: Fear of heights in a virtual environment. In B.K. Wiederhold and G. Riva (Eds.), Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine 2012 (pp 133-137). IOS Press. Amsterdam.
• Tröger, C, Ewald, H., Glotzbach, E., Pauli, P., & Mühlberger, A. (2012). Does pre-exposure inhibit fear context conditioning? A Virtual Reality Study. Journal of Neural Transmission, 119, 709-719. doi: 10.1007/s00702-011-0757-8
• Wieser, M.J., Pauli, P., Grosseibl, M., Molzow, I., & Mühlberger, A. (2010). Virtual Social Interaction in Social Anxiety – The Impact of Sex, Gaze and Interpersonal Distance. CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 13,   547-554. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2009.0432
• Wieser, M. J., Pauli, P., Alpers, G. W., & Mühlberger, A. (2009). Is eye to eye contact really threatening and avoided in social anxiety?—An eye-tracking and psychophysiology study. Journal of anxiety disorders, 23(1), 93-103. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.04.004
• Mühlberger, A., Wieser, M. J. and Pauli, P. (2008). Visual attention during virtual social situations depends on social anxiety. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11, 425-430. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2007.0084
• Mühlberger, A., Bülthoff, H. H., Wiedemann, G. & Pauli, P. (2007). Virtual reality for psychophysiological assessment of phobic fear: responses during virtual tunnel drives. Psychological Assessment. 19. 340-346. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.340

Therapy Research

• Wechsler TF, Pfaller M, Eickels REv, Schulz LH and Mühlberger A (2021). Look at the Audience? A Randomized Controlled Study of Shifting Attention From Self-Focus to Nonsocial vs. Social External Stimuli During Virtual Reality Exposure to Public Speaking in Social Anxiety. Front. Psychiatry 12:751272. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.751272
• Herrmann, M., Katzorke, A., Busch, Y., Gromer, D., Polak, T., Pauli, P. & Deckert, J. (2017). Medial prefrontal cortex stimulation accelerates therapy response of exposure therapy in acrophobia. Brain Stimulation, Volume 10, Issue 2, Pages 291-297. doi:  10.1016/j.brs.2016.11.007
• Shiban, Y., Diemer, J., Müller, J., Brütting-Schick, J., Pauli, P. & Mühlberger, A. (2017). Diaphragmatic breathing during virtual reality exposure therapy for aviophobia: functional coping strategy or avoidance behavior? a pilot study. BMC Psychiatry, 17:29. doi:  10.1186/s12888-016-1181-2
• Shiban, Y., Peperkorn, H., Alpers, G., Pauli, P. & Mühlberger, A. (2016). Influence of perceptual cues and conceptual information on the activation and reduction of claustrophobic fear. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry.(2016) Volume 51, Pages 19-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.11.002
• Peperkorn, H. M., Diemer, J. E., Alpers, G. W., & Mühlberger, A. (2016). Representation of patients’ hand modulates fear reactions of patients with spider phobia in virtual reality. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 268. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00268 Shiban, Y., Brütting, J., Pauli, P., & Mühlberger, A. (2015). Fear reactivation prior to exposure therapy: does it facilitate the effects of VR exposure in a randomized clinical sample? Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 46, 133-140. doi: j.jbtep.2014.09.009
• Shiban, Y., Brütting, J., Pauli, P., & Mühlberger, A. (2015). Fear reactivation prior to exposure therapy: does it facilitate the effects of VR exposure in a randomized clinical sample?. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 46, 133-140. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.09.009
• Shiban, Y., Schelhorn, I., Pauli, P., & Mühlberger, A. (2015). Effect of combined multiple contexts and multiple stimuli exposure in spider phobia: a randomized clinical trial in virtual reality. Behaviour research and therapy, 71, 45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2015.05.014
• Notzon, S., Deppermann, S., Fallgatter, A., Diemer, J., Kroczek, A., Domschke, K., … & Ehlis, A. C. (2015). Psychophysiological effects of an iTBS modulated virtual reality challenge including participants with spider phobia. Biological psychology, 112, 66-76. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.10.003
• Peperkorn, H. M., Alpers, G. W., & Mühlberger, A. (2014). Triggers of fear: perceptual cues versus conceptual information in spider phobia. Journal of clinical psychology, 70(7), 704-714. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22057
• Diemer, J., Domschke, K., Mühlberger, A., Winter, B., Zavorotnyy, M., Notzon, S., Silling, K., Arolt, V. & Zwanzger,   P. (2013). Acute anxiolytic effects of quetiapine during virtual reality exposure—A double-blind placebo–  controlled trial in patients with specific phobia. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 23, 1551–  1560. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2013.01.001 Brütting, J. (2013). Psychotherapie spezifischer Phobien: Die Bedeutung der Angstaktivierung für Therapieprozess und Therapieerfolg. Universität Würzburg. urn: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-80578
• Shiban, Y., Pauli, P., & Mühlberger, A. (2013). Effect of multiple context exposure on renewal in spider phobia. Behaviour   Research and Therapy, 51, 68-74. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2012.10.007 Mühlberger, A., Sperber,
• M., Wieser, M. J., Pauli, P. (2008). A virtual reality behavior avoidance test (VR-BAT) for the assessment of spider phobia. Journal of CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation 1,2.
• Bärmann, S., Mühlberger, A., Müller, M., & Pauli, P. (2006). Einfluss visueller Tiefeninformation auf Gleichgewicht und Angsterleben bei Höhenängstlichen. In G. W. Alpers, H. Krebs, A. Mühlberger, P. Weyers & P. Pauli (Eds.), Wissenschaftliche Beiträge zum 24. Symposium der Fachgruppe Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie der DGPs (pp. 88). Würzburg: Pabst Science Publishers.
• Mühlberger, A., Weik, A., Pauli, P. & Wiedemann, G. (2006). One-session virtual reality exposure treatment for fear of flying: one year follow-up and graduation flight accompaniment effects.Psychotherapy Research. 16, 26-40. doi: 10.1080/10503300500090944 
• Mühlberger, A., Petrusek, S., Herrmann, M. J. & Pauli, P. (2005). Biocyberpsychologie: Subjektive und physiologische Reaktionen von Flugphobikern und Gesunden bei Exposition mit virtuellen Flügen [Biocyber psychology:   subjective and physiological reactions in flight phobics and normal subjects during flight simulations]. Zeitschrift   für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie. 34, 133-143.
• Mühlberger, A., Wiedemann, G. & Pauli, P. (2005). Subjective and physiologic reactions of flight phobics during VR exposure and treatment outcome: What adds motion simulation? Annual Review of CyberTherapy and   Telemedicine: A decade of VR, 3, 185-192.
• Sperber, M., Mühlberger, A., & Pauli, P. (2005). Motivationale Einflüsse bei der Annäherung an virtuelle Spinnen. In J. Hoyer (Hrsg.), Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie 2005. Abstractband. Lengerich, Germany: Papst Science Publishers. (Seite 126)
• Mühlberger, A., Wiedemann, G. & Pauli, P. (2003). Efficacy of a one-session virtual reality exposure treatment for fear of flying. Psychotherapy Research, 13(3), 323-336.
• Mühlberger, A., Herrmann, M. J., Wiedemann, G., Ellgring, H. & Pauli, P. (2001). Repeated exposure of flight phobics to flights in virtual reality. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1033-1050. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(00)00076-0

Neurophysiological Research

• Rodrigues, J., Ziebell, P., Müller, M., Hewig, A. (2022). Standardizing continuous data classifications in a virtual T-maze using two-layer feedforward networks. Sci Rep 12, 12879 (2022). doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-17013-5
• Gromer, D., Kiser, DP., Pauli, P. (2021). Thigmotaxis in a virtual human open field test. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85678-5 
• Andreatta M., Neueder D., Genheimer H.,  Schiele M. A., Schartner C., Deckert J., Domschke K., Reif A., Wieser M.J., Pauli, P. (2018). Human BDNF rs6265 polymorphism as a mediator for the generalization of contextual anxiety. Journal of Neuroscience Research. doi: doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24345
• Rodrigues J, Müller M, Mühlberger A, Hewig J.(2018). Mind the movement: Frontal asymmetry stands for behavioral motivation, bilateral frontal activation for behavior. Psychophysiology. 2018, 55:e12908. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12908
• Genheimer, H., Andreatta M., Asan, E. & Pauli, P. (2017). Reinstatement of contextual conditioned anxiety in virtual reality and the effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in humans. Scientific Reports, (2017)/7:17886. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18183-3
• Ewald, H., Glotzbach-Schoon, E., Gerdes. A.B.M., Andreatta, M., Müller, M., Mühlberger, A. & Pauli, P. (2014). Delay and trace fear conditioning in a complex virtual learning environment—neural substrates of extinction. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:323. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00323
• Mühlberger, A., Wieser, M. J. and Pauli, P. (2008). The darkness-enhanced startle responses in ecological valid environments: A virtual tunnel driving experiment. Biological Psychology, 77, 47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.09.004

Safety Research

• Ronchi, E., Kinateder, M., Müller, M., Jost, M., Nehfischer, M. , Pauli, P. &. Mühlberger, A. (2015). Evacuation travel paths in virtual reality experiments for tunnel safety analysis. Fire Safety Journal 71 (0):257-267. doi: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2014.11.005
• Kinateder, M., Müller, M., Jost, M., Mühlberger, A. & Pauli, P. (2014). Social influence in a virtual tunnel fire – influence of conflicting information on evacuation behavior. Journal of Applied Ergonomics. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2014.05.014
• Kinateder, M., Ronchi, E., Gromer, D., Müller, M., Jost, M., Nehfischer, M., Mühlberger, A., & Pauli, P. (2014). Social influence on route choice in a virtual reality tunnel fire. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and   Behaviour, 26, Part A(0), 116-125. doi: 10.1016/j.trf.2014.06.003
• Kinateder, M., Pauli, P., Müller, M., Krieger, J., Heimbecher, F., Rönnau, I., Bergerhausen, U., Vollmann, G., Vogt, P., &   Mühlberger, A. (2013). Human Behaviour in Severe Tunnel Accidents: Effects of Information and Behavioral Training. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 17, 20-32. doi: 10.1016/j.trf.2012.09.001
• Kinateder, M., Pauli, P., Müller, M., & Mühlberger, A. (2012). Stresserleben und verändertes Fahrverhalten nach einem virtuellen Autounfall. [Stress experience and changes in driving behaviour after a virtual driving accident]. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie,41. 190-200. doi: 10.1026/1616-3443/a000152

Further Experimental-Psychological Research Using Virtual Reality

• Kroczek LOH, Pfaller M, Lange B, Müller M. & Mühlberger A. (2020) Interpersonal Distance DuringReal-Time Social Interaction:Insights From Subjective Experience,Behavior, and Physiology. Frontiers in Psychiatry 11:561.doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00561
• Santl, J., Shiban, Y., Plab, A., Wüst, S., Kudielka, B. M., & Mühlberger, A. (2019). Gender Differences in Stress Responses during a Virtual Reality Trier Social Stress Test. International Journal of Virtual Reality, 19(2), 2-15. doi: 10.20870/IJVR.2019.19.2.2912
• Zimmer, P., Buttlar, B., Halbeisen, G., Walther, E., & Domes, G. (2019). Virtually stressed? A refined virtual reality adaptation of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) induces robust endocrine responses. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 101, 186-192. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.010
• Shiban, Y., Diemer, J., Brandl, S., Zack, R., Mühlberger A., & Wüst, A. (2016). Trier Social Stress Test in vivo and in virtual reality: Dissociation of response domains. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 110, 47-55. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.10.008
• Schuler, M., Wolkenstein, L., Müller, M., Mühlberger, A., Plewnia, C. (2014).  Measuring valence and naturalness of statements made by virtual agents, Proceedings of the International Society for Presence Research. url: researchgate.net/publication/262764148
• Mühlberger, A., Neumann, R., Wieser, M. J. & Pauli, P. (2008). The impact of changes in spatial distance on emotional responses. Emotion, 8, 192-198. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.8.2.192

Further Information

Further information on collaborative research projects, technological milestones and the ongoing development of the VTplus VR platform is available in the Research and Development section.