The effect of using virtual reality in emotional regulation

Abstract

Emotional regulation, the process of managing and organizing emotions to meet environmental demands, plays a crucial role in individuals’ well-being. In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising tool for enhancing emotional regulation and has been widely employed in healthcare. VR applications have shown potential in treating various mental health conditions, including phobias, anxiety disorders, and emotional dysregulation.

This thesis focuses on utilizing VR technology to facilitate emotional regulation while creating an immersive and more lifelike environment by incorporating digital aroma into the virtual experience. To achieve this goal, an experiment containing several levels of object delivery was conducted. Prior to the experiment and after each level, participants were asked to answer various questionnaires, one of which was the self-assessment manikin which allowed for measuring their emotional response to the experience.

Analyzing the questionnaire data, participants’ success rate in performing the tasks and task duration suggests that feelings of pleasure, arousal, and dominance correlate, meaning that arising in one leads to increasing the other two and vice versa. Moreover, difficulty performing the tasks leads to decreasing the feeling of pleasure. Also, according to the study, presenting task instructions in the text format led to better task completion and more satisfaction, emphasizing the value of providing transparent guidance.