Virtual reality and the new psychophysics

Virtual reality (VR) promises methodological rigour with the extra benefit of allowing us to study the context‐dependent behaviour of individuals in their natural environment. Pan and Hamilton (2018, Br. J. Psychol.) provide a useful overview of methodological recommendations for using VR. Here, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The British journal of psychology 2018-08, Vol.109 (3), p.421-426
Main Authors: Gelder, Beatrice, Kätsyri, Jari, Borst, Aline W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
belief
embodiment
Humans
Morality
Natural environment
Neuroimaging
Poverty
Psychophysics - methods
Psychophysics - trends
Realism
Rigour
Suspension
Virtual Reality
virtual reality methods
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Summary:Virtual reality (VR) promises methodological rigour with the extra benefit of allowing us to study the context‐dependent behaviour of individuals in their natural environment. Pan and Hamilton (2018, Br. J. Psychol.) provide a useful overview of methodological recommendations for using VR. Here, we highlight some other aspects of the use of VR. Our first argument is that VR can be useful by virtue of its differences from the normal perceptual environment. That is, by virtue of its relative non‐realism and poverty of its perceptual elements, it can actually offer increased clarity with respect to the features of interest for the researcher. Our second argument is that VR exerts its measurable influence more by eliciting an acceptance of the virtual world (i.e., ‘suspension of disbelief’) rather than by eliciting a true belief of the realism of the VR environment. We conclude by providing a novel suggestion for combining neuroimaging methods with embodied VR that relies on the suspension of disbelief.
ISSN:0007-1269
2044-8295
DOI:10.1111/bjop.12308