Presentation
Virtual Travel: A Novel VR-based Approach toward Mental Health Issues among First Responders
SessionMethods (DH6)
DescriptionThe main objective of this work is to investigate the effects of semantically irrelevant virtual reality (VR) experience on a participant’s memory of an adverse event and associated emotion. While the false memory effect has focused on understanding the role of semantically relevant information following an initial experience, it remains unclear how semantically irrelevant content influences one’s memory and emotion, especially in the context of emergency situations. To address this knowledge gap, we designed a between-subject study in which participants followed three steps: Step 1) watching a 3-minute video of a real house fire; Step 2) staring at an empty wall for three minutes (condition group) or reading a text description of underwater diving for three minutes (comparison group) or watching a 3-minute 360-degree VR video of underwater diving (intervention group); and Step 3) taking a memory test where participants are asked to choose one image between one true image and one AI-generated fake image they think they saw from the video in Step 1. The fake images contain some components that did not exist in the original video, for example, a brick-covered backyard vs. a grass-covered backyard. A total of 107 participants were recruited from student populations in a public university in Texas. A total of 15 pairs of images was presented to the participants. In addition to the memory test, the participants in all three groups filled out a Positive And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) survey immediately after Step 1 and Step 2. Results show that there was no significant difference of the memory accuracy between three groups. The mean memory accuracy was 0.71 (SD=0.13) for the control group, 0.73 (SD=0.12) for the comparison group, and 0.69 (SD=0.16). However, the PANAS score significantly differed between the three groups. The mean positive PANAS score for all participants was 25.98 (SD=0.15). The mean negative PANAS score for all participants was 15.82 (SD=3.67). The mean positive PANAS score was 25.54 (SD=0.99) for the control group, 23.96 (SD=098) for the comparison group, and 28.32 (SD=2.22). The mean negative PANAS score was 15.12 (SD=2.21) for the control group, 15.48 (SD=4.85) for the comparison group, and 15.48 (SD=3.88) for the intervention group. Findings indicate that the semantically irrelevant VR experience increased the positive affect and decreased the negative affect. These findings inform future mental health interventions for first responders. Specifically, virtual travels (e.g., underwater diving) after being exposed to an adverse event (e.g., house fire) can alleviate emotional response.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeTuesday, March 262:00pm - 2:30pm CDT
LocationSalon A-2
Digital Health