The Effects of Experience with Video Gaming on Presence during Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
[Thesis]
Tusa, Brittany
Schare, Mitchell L.
Hofstra University
2020
134
Ph.D.
Hofstra University
2020
This paper explores whether gaming history affects participants' ability to feel engaged during virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET). Innovative technologies, chiefly smartphones connected to virtual reality viewers, have made it feasible for VRET to be conducted remotely (i.e. therapists and patients are in different locations). In light of the Telehealth movement, the delivery of healthcare through telecommunication technologies, determining what factors contribute to the effectiveness of VRET is imperative. A key factor related to the effectiveness of VRET is presence, the degree to which a person leaves the reality of the world to be present in the computer-generated world. Researchers have begun to link higher video/online gaming histories with lower levels of presence during VRET. One hypothesized cause of this association is that VRET has generally had lower visual/graphic quality than that of video gaming contemporaneously available in the commercial market.