Week 6. Experiential effects and immersive health technology

What is presence in virtual reality?

Presence is the subjective experience of being in a mediated or virtual environment, even when physically located elsewhere (Witmer & Singer, 1998).

What are key technological features of VR?

• Head Mounted Display (HMD)

• Immersion

• Presence

• Haptics

• Body tracking

• Stereoscopy (3D vision)

• Simulation sickness

Why can VR strongly influence emotional responses?

Because the mind knows the environment is not real, but the body responds as if it were, producing physiological responses such as increased heart rate and skin conductance.

What is cue exposure therapy in VR?

A therapy where individuals are exposed to feared stimuli (e.g., spiders, heights) in VR, which increases emotional and physiological responses and can help treat phobias.

Why are health behaviors often difficult to change?

Because they involve a self-control dilemma: a trade-off between immediate rewards (e.g., tasty food) and future health consequences.

What is temporal distance in health behavior?

The gap between present behavior and future consequences, which makes health risks feel less urgent.

How does temporal distance affect behavior change?

When risks feel temporally distant, people are less motivated to change behavior. When risks feel temporally proximal, people feel greater urgency and are more likely to act.

Which theory explains the role of temporal distance in decision-making?

Construal Level Theory (Trope & Lieberman, 2010).

How can VR reduce temporal distance in health communication?

VR allows users to experience future consequences of unhealthy behavior (e.g., seeing future health effects), making risks feel more immediate.

What is a fear appeal in health communication?

A persuasive message designed to arouse fear in order to motivate attitude and behavior change.

What model explains how people respond to fear appeals?

The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) by Witte (1992).

What are the four key appraisals in the EPPM?

1. Perceived severity. Are there serious consequences of this behavior? Do i feel like they are serious?

2. Perceived susceptibility. Might it happen to me? 

3. Response efficacy. Is there something effective that I can do to prevent this? 

4. Self-efficacy. Am I confident that I can do that?

What happens when people experience high threat but low efficacy according to EPPM?

Fear control occurs: people focus on reducing fear instead of addressing the danger and reject the message.

What happens when people experience high threat and high efficacy according to EPPM?

What is social distance in health communication?

The perceived distance between a health risk and oneself, which influences message processing. How close do you feel to a certain behavior in terms of personality? 

How can social distance influence health behavior change?

If a risk feels socially proximal (personally relevant), individuals are more likely to change their behavior. If a health threat is personally relevant or close to one's own experiences, social distance is shorter (i.e. if a health threat is for people your age)

How can VR reduce social distance in health communication?

By allowing users to experience consequences through personalized avatars or virtual selves, making risks feel personally relevant. 

What is virtual self-modelling?

A technique where individuals observe a virtual version of themselves performing behaviors, which can influence their own behavior. 

Which theory explains why virtual self-modelling works?

Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977). 

What is vicarious learning?

Learning by observing others performing behaviors and their outcomes (Bandura, 1977).

What did Fox & Bailenson (2009) find about virtual avatars and exercise behavior?

Seeing an avatar being rewarded for exercising and punished for inactivity increased exercise behavior

What did Fox & Bailenson (2009) find about self-similar avatars?

Participants were more likely to exercise when the avatar resembled themselves.

Why are self-similar avatars more effective?

They increase identification and imitation, which strengthens vicarious learning.

What was the main goal of Ahn (2015)?

To test whether VR combined with traditional health messages (pamphlets) could reduce soft drink consumption.

What did Ahn (2015) find about tailoring health messages?

Messages tailored to the self reduced social distance and influenced intentions.

What did Ahn (2015) find about VR experiences?

Adding VR reduced temporal distance and lowered soft drink consumption after one week.

What did Lee et al. (2018) study about augmented reality?

AR visualizations of smoking effects increased negative emotions, mediated by presence. 

What is a full body illusion in VR?

The illusion that a virtual body or avatar is one's own body, created through first-person perspective and sensory input. 

What is virtual body ownership?

The experience that a virtual body is perceived as one's own body (Gonzalez-Franco & Peck, 2018). 

What effect did VR body ownership have in anorexia patients?

Owning a normal-sized virtual body reduced overestimation of body size (Keizer et al., 2016).

What effect did owning a larger virtual body have in healthy individuals?

• Increased body size estimation

• Increased body anxiety
  (Norman et al., 2011; Ferrer-Garcia et al., 2017).

What was the aim of the VR snacking study (Van der Waal et al., 2024)?

To test whether experiencing the consequences of unhealthy snacking in VR increases healthy eating intentions and behavior. 

What variables were manipulated in the VR snacking experiment?

1. Experience of consequences (yes/no)

2. Visuotactile stimulation (congruent/incongruent)

3. Facial similarity (similar/generic).

What psychological mechanism mediated the effect on healthy snacking behavior?

Perceived severity of health risks.

Why is VR promising for health communication?

Because it can:

• Reduce temporal distance

• Reduce social distance

• Increase presence and emotional engagement

• Allow people to experience consequences of unhealthy behavior.

Why is research on immersive health technology still developing?

Because it is a relatively new research domain, and more empirical evidence is needed to confirm the robustness of effects.