| Autor: |
Chiara Lucifora, Aldo Gangemi, Giovanni D’Italia, Laura Culicetto, Francesca Ferraioli, Giorgio Mario Grasso, Carmelo Mario Vicario |
| Jazyk: |
angličtina |
| Rok vydání: |
2024 |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 15 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
article |
| ISSN: |
1664-1078 |
| DOI: |
10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1432141 |
| Popis: |
IntroductionPavlovian fear conditioning is an experimental paradigm used to study the acquisition and extinction of fear responses and the various aspects of fear and anxiety. We developed a virtual reality (VR) version of this paradigm to leverage the benefits of virtual reality, such as ecological validity, standardization, safety, and therapeutic applications. Our objective was to create an open-source and immersive environment for studying fear-related responses using Unity Engine 3D and the Oculus Rift device.MethodsIn this virtual environment, the participants encountered a monster screaming at 100 dB approaching them as the fear-inducing stimulus (unconditioned stimulus or US). Our protocol included three sessions: habituation, acquisition, and extinction, with two stimuli associated with different doors (blue vs. red). The blue door (CS+) was linked to the US, while the red door (CS−) was the control. We tested this VR paradigm on 84 young participants, recording their skin conductance response (SCRs) and fear stimulus ratings (FSRs) on a 10-point Likert scale.ResultsThe findings showed significantly higher SCRs and FSRs for CS+ as compared to CS− during the acquisition phase and higher SCRs and FSRs for CS+ during the acquisition phase as compared to the habituation and extinction sessions.Discussion and conclusionsThese results supported the reliability of the protocol for studying fear and anxiety-related conditions. |
| Databáze: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
| Externí odkaz: |
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