Impact of Virtual Embodiment on the Perception of Virtual Heights

In Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) for anxiety disorders, virtual reality is used to simulate threatening environments and stimuli, allowing patients to be exposed to their fear. Presence, the ‘sense of being there’, is widely assumed to be crucial for fear responses. It can be enhanced by full-body ownership and agency—the illusory perception that an artificial body is one’s own and that a person is himself the cause for the movements of that body. This study investigated the effects of a virtual full-body representation on the perception of virtual heights. Results revealed that coherent stimuli successfully enabled a virtual embodiment, while subjects with acrophobic tendencies showed fear responses to virtual heights. However, effects were neither found on fear, nor on presence nor on self-confidence nor on physiological responses. These findings suggest that virtual embodiment has no significant influence on the efficacy of a VRET for fear of heights.