Emotional Qualities of VR Space (original) (raw)

Ambiance Production in Virtual Interiors, Engineering and Assessment of Affective Response in Design Studio Projects

2020

This pedagogy-based research was conducted through a design studio challenge in which students were tasked with the creation of virtual models that place affect produc- tion at the center of the design process. The raster-based environment of VR operated as a site, which permitted a momentary withdrawal from considerations of structure, program, climate, gravity, materiality, and even circu- lation. The elimination of obtrusive variables allowed us to effectively register the correlation between spatial qualities and affective properties. The aim of the paper is to 1) catalogue affective reactions to these highly abstracted virtual spaces; 2) register any possible consensus among multiple subjects; and 3) identify correlations between affective experience and spatial qualities.

Dynamic experience of architectural forms affects arousal and valence perception in virtual environments

2021

The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investigate the impact that architectural features have on individuals' affective states, we measured their judgments of perceived valence (pleasant and unpleasant) and arousal after the dynamic experience of a progressive change of the environment within virtual decontextualized spaces. To this aim, we developed a parametric model which allowed to create 54 virtual architectural spaces characterized by a progressive change of side walls distance, ceiling and windows height as well as colour of the environment. Decreasing side walls distance, ceiling height variation as well as increasing windows height signi cantly affected the emotional state of the participants within virtual environments. Indeed, such architectural spaces generated high arousing and unpleasant states according to subjective judgement. Overall, we observed that valence and arousal scores are affected by all the dynamic form factors which modulated the spaciousness of the surrounding. Showing that virtual reality enables the possibility to measure the emotional impact of pure and decontextualized architectural features, we contribute to foster a humancentered approach to design where mental state of people is fundamental for the creation of novel spaces promoting wellbeing.

Measuring arousal and valence generated by the dynamic experience of architectural forms in virtual environments

Scientific Reports

The built environment represents the stage surrounding our everyday life activities. To investigate how architectural design impacts individuals' affective states, we measured subjective judgments of perceived valence (pleasant and unpleasant) and arousal after the dynamic experience of a progressive change of macro visuospatial dimensions of virtual spaces. To this aim, we developed a parametric model that allowed us to create 54 virtual architectural designs characterized by a progressive change of sidewalls distance, ceiling and windows height, and color of the environment. Decreasing sidewalls distance, ceiling height variation, and increasing windows height significantly affected the participants' emotional state within virtual environments. Indeed, such architectural designs generated high arousing and unpleasant states according to subjective judgment. Overall, we observed that valence and arousal scores are affected by all the dynamic form factors which modulated the...

Influencing Human Affective Responses to Dynamic Virtual Environments

PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 2016

Detecting and measuring emotional responses while interacting with virtual reality (VR), and assessing and interpreting their impacts on human engagement and “immersion,” are both academically and technologically challenging. While many researchers have, in the past, focused on the affective evaluation of passive environments, such as listening to music or the observation of videos and imagery, virtual realities and related interactive environments have been used in only a small number of research studies as a mean of presenting emotional stimuli. This article reports the first stage (focusing on participants' subjective responses) of a range of experimental investigations supporting the evaluation of emotional responses within a virtual environment, according to a three-dimensional (Valence, Arousal, and Dominance) model of affects, developed in the 1970s and 1980s. To populate this three-dimensional model with participants' emotional responses, an “affective VR,” capable o...

The Fidelity of "Feel": Emotional Affordance in Virtual Environments

Virtual environments (VEs) should be able to provide experiences as rich and complex as those to be had in real life. While this seems obvious, it is not yet possible to create a perfect simulacrum of the real world, so such correspondence requires the development of design techniques by which VEs can be made to appear more real. It also requires evaluation studies to determine if such techniques produce the desired results.

Evaluating emotional responses to the interior design of a hospital room: A study using virtual reality

Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2013

Many studies have shown the ability of interior design elements (e.g., artwork, nature, home elements) to elicit positive emotions on hospital users thereby enhancing the healing process. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether such elements can affect users' emotional responses during a VR experience. In this study we explored the influence of interior design elements (i.e., landscape poster, painting, plant and home chair), on the participants' emotional responses after being exposed to 3D virtual hospital rooms. We used a short version of Zipers scales, developed by Zuckerman, to explore participants' emotional responses regarding 28 rooms, resulting from all the possible combinations of the identified elements plus a neutral and a negative room. Our sample included 30 university students. The results show that the more elements present in the hospital room the more positive the emotional response. The landscape and artwork elements emitted positive responses, whereas the home chair did not.

The Aesthetic Experience , Emotion and an Artistic Virtual Environment

In the last few decades, a number of artists have used virtual environments (VE) technology to create computer based virtual environment art installations or what we call Artistic Virtual Environments (AVE). We created AVEs that we have used to explore the aesthetic experience for participants and how it is tied to their emotional response and thus, the emotional content of the AVE. This may shed light on how artists can use emotional content to facilitate the aesthetic experience for viewers. Our research indicates a correlation between presence , the aesthetic experience, and emotional response. This paper will focus on the findings from a series of studies, two quantitative and two qualitative, that relate to the emotional content of the AVE, the emotional response of the participants, and how both are tied to aesthetic experience.

The influence of lighting on the affective qualities of a virtual theater

2007

In the development of 3D models of buildings, much time and effort is spent on enhancing lighting effects, to improve the perceived realism and quality of the models, and to create ambience. In an experimental setup, two versions of a 3D model of the Royal Carré Theater with different lighting conditions were presented to viewers, to assess the influence of lighting effects on their affective appraisals. A small group visited the real theater. The differences between the affective qualities of the models are smaller than expected, and participants seem to infer affective qualities and dimensions of an environment without paying attention to the specific lighting information. The affective qualities of the real theater show a correspondence to both versions.

Emotional Responses in Virtual Reality Environments

2021

The use of virtual reality (VR) technology to induce emotional responses has recently become more common in psychological studies. The majority of these studies have been restricted to seated VR experiences where the participant remains in a sedentary position. The purpose of the current thesis is to utilise room-scale VR to increase presence, agency and potency of virtual environments (VE) designed to induce embodied emotional responses. The Evaluative Space Model (ESM) [Cacciopio et. al 2012] was used as the theoretical basis for this programme of research, which was particularly concerned with avoidance responses to negative stimuli, perception of threat and negativity bias. A number of unique VEs were created using Unreal Engine 4 designed to create an illusion of height and the potential for a virtual fall as a source of threat. These VEs were supplemented by additional tracking sensors and an integrated approach to data collection wherein behavioural interactions and movements...

The Living Space: Psychological Well-Being and Mental Health in Response to Interiors Presented in Virtual Reality

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

There has been a recent interest in how architecture affects mental health and psychological well-being, motivated by the fact that we spend the majority of our waking time inside and interacting with built environments. Some studies have investigated the psychological responses to indoor design parameters; for instance, contours, and proposed that curved interiors, when compared to angular ones, were aesthetically preferred and induced higher positive emotions. The present study aimed to systematically examine this hypothesis and further explore the impact of contrasting contours on affect, behavior, and cognition. We exposed 42 participants to four well-matched indoor living rooms under a free-exploration photorealistic virtual reality paradigm. We included style as an explorative second-level variable. Out of the 33 outcome variables measured, and after correcting for false discoveries, only two eventually confirmed differences in the contours analysis, in favor of angular rooms....