Degrading emotional memories induced by a virtual reality paradigm

Cuperus, Anne A.; Laken, Maarten; Hout, Marcel A. van den; Engelhard, Iris M.

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.03.004

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…However, because watching films is a somewhat passive endeavour that lacks active behavioural engagement, VR may provide a better alternative (Dibbets & Schulte-Ostermann, 2015). In the present study, we aimed to further validate the VR paradigm used by Cuperus et al (2016) as an experimental model to study psychological trauma by comparing its effectiveness with the TFP.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is noteworthy because we used a highly aversive film ('Irréversible'), depicting physical and sexual violence, and a game-like VR scene ('Affected'; Cuperus et al, 2016). As argued by James et al (2016), in selecting a film, it is not necessarily the aim to find the most aversive film that an ethical committee will allow.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We adopted the safety strategies from the study of Cuperus et al (2016). In the present study, however, participants were not informed about the nature of the VR scene and the film in the acquisition text, because we did not want to exclusively attract fans of the horror genre.…”

Section: Ethical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike in the original version as used by Cuperus et al (2016), in this modified version participants started in the 'Manor' stage instead of another room where the stage had to be selected first. Furthermore, it contained no random events and only allowed for one route in the manor, so we could be sure that all participants were exposed to the same events.…”

Section: Vr Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors proposed that the VR scene may have been less intense than the film. Cuperus, Laken, van den Hout, and Engelhard (2016) argued that another explanation may be the lack of interactive features of the VR scene, which were limited to the ability to determine one's distance to the event as a passive observer of the scene. They explored the utility of a VR paradigm with more interactive features, in which participants had to navigate through a virtual manor that was designed to induce fear.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A virtual reality paradigm as an analogue to real-life trauma: its effectiveness compared with the trauma film paradigm

Cuperus

Klaassen

Hagenaars

et al. 2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: The trauma film paradigm (TFP) is a well-established method to study the effects of analogue psychological trauma under controlled laboratory settings. It has been used to examine pre-, peri-, and post-trauma processes, and to create and test interventions. A possible drawback is that watching films is a somewhat passive endeavour that lacks active behavioural engagement. Virtual reality (VR) may provide a better alternative. Like the TFP, VR allows for experimental control. In addition, it can induce a greater 'feeling of presence' and allows interaction with the environment, enabling research on action-reaction associations. Objective: We aimed to validate the utility of a VR paradigm as an experimental model to study psychological trauma by comparing its effectiveness with the TFP. Method: One group of participants (N = 25) was shown an aversive film, and another group (N = 25) moved through a VR scene. Main outcome measures were intrusion frequency assessed with a 7-day diary and self-rated vividness and emotionality of recalled memories related to the film or VR scene. Results:The results indicate that the film and VR scene were equally effective in inducing vivid and intrusive memories. However, self-reported emotional intensity appeared to be higher for memories related to the film than for memories related to the VR scene. Conclusions: Perhaps the film was more effective in inducing emotional memories than the VR scene due to its more aversive content. However, the VR scene seemed equally effective in inducing vivid and intrusive memories, and merits further exploration in light of ethical considerations (less aversive content) and other presumably beneficial qualities (e.g. inducing a greater feeling of presence and allowing interaction with the environment).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ethical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Vr Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A virtual reality paradigm as an analogue to real-life trauma: its effectiveness compared with the trauma film paradigm

Cuperus

Klaassen

Hagenaars

et al. 2017

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Building Computer-Based Experiments in Psychology without Programming Skills

et al. 2016

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Research in Psychology usually requires to build and run experiments. However, although this task has required scripting, recent computer tools based on graphical interfaces offer new opportunities in this field for researchers with non-programming skills. The purpose of this study is to illustrate and provide a comparative overview of two of the main free open source "point and click" software packages for building and running experiments in Psychology: PsychoPy and OpenSesame. Recommendations for their potential use are further discussed.

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