Development and validation of visual attention analysis methods in virtual reality setting

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is a term that describes a diversity of interface advanced technologies between an user and a computational system, creating visual and auditive stimulus that incite the user the sensation of being in an environment completely different from the one that he is located in reality. The possibility of creating and manipulating environments in controlled conditions has been motivating the use of this technology not only in mental disease treatment, specially anxious-phobic, but also for the study of interactions between objects and person. VR techniques can offer realistic environments capable of causing physiologic reactions similar to the ones observed when exposed to equivalent real situations. The virtual context propitiates a precise control of visual and auditive stimulation to what the person is being exposed in the same time it allows the monitoring of physiologic reactions of the person in situations close to the real ones. The study of the phenomenon connected to visual attention is particularly important to de development of new RV treating techniques. As the virtual environment allows the combination of environment control with the realization of psychophysical experiments, it is presumed that this technique may contribute to the understanding of mental disease physiopathology in wich physical environmental characteristics may take relevant part in symptom evocation. This project aim to evaluate how much the use of consagrated reaction a timing accuracy measures are applicable to experiments done in virtual reality context. This study justifies itself because the immersion in VR demands a longer computational steps series in relation to the computer made classical experiments. Knowing the delay introduced by the reaction time technique and eventual discomfort is fundamental to the development of psychophysiological studies in VR. This scientific initiation project is associated to other projects of the virtual reality psychophysical laboratory of the Psychiatric Institute HCFMUSP and it is connected to a colaboration with the Health Psychology post-graduation program of the Universidade Metodista de São Paulo (LH and FINEP). (AU)