Effects of voluntary heart rate control on user engagement and agency in a virtual reality game

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that virtual reality (VR) exposure can affect the subjective experience of different situations, cognitive capabilities or behavior. It is known that there is a link between a person's physiological state and their psychological self-report and user experience. As an immersive experience can affect users' physiological data, it is possible to adapt and enhance the content of a virtual environment in real-time base on physiological data feedback (biofeedback). With the rapid evolution of the physiological monitoring technologies, it is now possible to exploit different modalities of biofeedback, in a cheap and non-cumbersome manner, and study how they can affect user experience. While most of the studies involving physiological data use it as a measuring tool, we want to study its impact when direct and voluntary physiological control becomes a mean of interaction. To do so, we created a two-parts protocol. The first part was designed to categorize the participants on their heart rate control competency. In the second part of the study, we immersed our participants in a VR experience where they must control their heart rate to interact with the elements in the game. The results were analyzed based on the competency distribution. We observed consistent results between our competency scale and the participants' control of the biofeedback game mechanic. We also found that our direct biofeedback mechanic is highly engaging. We observed that it generated a strong feeling of agency, which is linked with users' level of heart rate control. We highlighted the richness of biofeedback as a direct game mechanic, prompting interesting perspective for personalized immersive experiences.

Virtual Reality Biofeedback in Health: A Scoping Review

“…However, the role of gamification in increasing motivation remains unclear. Most studies in this review used single task exercises and only two studies applied an elaborate gamification approach: Houzangbe et al ( 2020 ) placed the participants in a sequence of adjoining futuristic laboratory rooms, with the subsequent rooms opening up after room-specific BF exercises had been solved (e.g., regulating their HR to shoot a weapon). Similarly, in “Stressjam”, the exercises were embedded in a cohesive story line in which the participants had to prevent an island from being destroyed by a volcano (Maarsingh et al, 2019 ).…”

Examining the Academic Trends in Neuropsychological Tests for Executive Functions Using Virtual Reality: Systematic Literature Review

“…Cybersickness is a major obstacle in applying VR to older people and people who have difficulties adapting to VR because they feel dizzy. In addition, research on emotion recognition and presence in VR uses physiological data [ 111 - 114 ]. With these efforts added, VR neuropsychological tests’ versatility for all ages continues to improve.…”

Immersion in a relaxing virtual reality environment is associated with similar effects on stress and anxiety as heart rate variability biofeedback

“…At the same time, as virtual environments induce a sense of presence in the user, they can be used to in uence emotional states more than real environments (Riva et al, 2007). As biofeedback mechanisms are engaging and generate a sense of agency (Houzangbe et al, 2020), they can also enhance presence and therefore induce restorative effects.…”