(PS12-85) The Effect of Body Position on Presence Ratings in a Virtual Environment

Acrophobia, the specific phobia of heights, affects about 3% to 6% of the population. Acrophobia can lead to avoidance of heights or height- related situations or endurance of these situations with intense distress (Bouchard, Wiederhold & Bosse, 2014). Given the prevalence of height encounters, individuals with acrophobia encounter persistent challenges in daily life. Exposure therapy is the first-line therapeutic intervention for specific phobia (Boehnlein et al., 2020). Research has demonstrated that Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is a highly effective treatment for acrophobia, and comparable with in-vivo exposure therapy (Botella et al., 2017; Carl et al., 2019). VRET is significantly more practical than in-vivo exposure, and often saves both patients and clinicians time and money (Bouchard et al., 2018). Additionally, the VR environment is adaptable thus offering significant benefits in a controlled therapeutic setting (Donker et al., 2018).

Presence is the subjective, cognitive experience that primarily impacts the perceived immersiveness of the artificial environment (Price & Anderson, 2007; Wallach et al., 2012). VRET’s efficacy is contingent upon presence as it ensures the individual can suspend disbelief and immerse themself in the virtual environment. Therefore, studying presence is critical for improving virtual reality treatment efficacy. Humans have a mental representation of how the body exists in the surrounding environment, partially constructed by input of somesthetic stimuli (Kim et al., 2019; Norris, 2011). People experience higher presence ratings when their body positions match how they would be in the “real world” during a VR simulation (Kim et al., 2019). These findings have implications for VRET methodology, and the current seeks to understand the relationship between body position, presence, and acrophobia symptoms.

Participants will complete the Acrophobia Questionnaire prior to entering the study to assess participant’s acrophobia symptoms. Fifty-four individuals will be randomized to one of two conditions, sitting or standing during a simulation. Participants will complete a fifteen minute, graduated virtual-reality simulation depicting them riding in a glass elevator to a 15-story balcony. The standing condition represents the real life body position of riding in an elevator.  After the simulation is completed, participants will complete the Independent Television Commission- Sense of Presence Inventory. It is hypothesized that individuals in the standing condition who fall into the high-fear rating will have the highest presence ratings, and the participants in the sitting condition who fall into the low-fear rating will have the lowest presence ratings. Understanding factors related to increased presence can help inform future VRET treatment protocol for acrophobia and other specific phobias.

Data collection is currently underway.