Mental beliefs about blood, and not its smell, affect presence in a violent computer game
Pages 928 - 937
Abstract
Presence in virtual reality - the feeling that one is inside mediated reality - has fascinated academics in the field of virtual reality from its onset. While conceptual analyses and empirical research unequivocally stressed the importance of immersion through sensory input, agent-related aspects such as mental beliefs received less attention. We are the first to examine the separate and combined effects of being exposed to the smell of a particular stimulus and/or having a representation of this stimulus in mind. Blood was considered to be interesting to work with, because of widespread folk ideas about its capacity to induce aggression in violent contexts. Using a violent computer game in a between-subjects design, male subjects were tested for the immersive impact of blood, first as an olfactory cue, and second as a mental belief, i.e. the true or false belief that one is smelling 'blood'. Lower skin conductance and game scores showed that 'blood' served as a distractor hindering the subject's spontaneous engagement. Subjects higher in dispositional aggressiveness, however, got more immersed during the 'blood' game rounds, by displaying more combativeness. We discuss our results in light of the undervalued importance of subjective realism in research on presence, and explain the relevance of this work for applications in virtual training in the military and for clinical intervention in combat-related PTSD. People perform worse when believing to smell blood during a violent computer game.Equally, they display lower skin conductance under this condition.More aggressive individuals however experience increased combativeness.Smelling blood, merely as a sensory trigger, does not affect parameters of presence.
References
[1]
K. Ackerl, M. Atzmueller, K. Grammer, The scent of fear, Neuro Endocrinology Letters, 23 (2002) 79-84.
[2]
W. Barfield, E. Danas, Comments on the use of olfactory displays for virtual environments, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual environments, 5 (1995) 109-121.
[3]
G. Ben-Shakhar, Standardization within individuals: A simple method to neutralize individual differences in skin conductance, Psychophysiology, 22 (1985) 292-299.
[4]
S. Bouchard, S. Dumoulin, J. Talbot, A.A. Ledoux, J. Philips, J. Monthuy-Blanc, Manipulating subjective realism and its impact on presence: Preliminary results on feasibility and neuroanatomical correlates, Interacting with Computers, 24 (2012) 227-236.
[5]
S. Bouchard, J. St-Jacques, G. Robillard, P. Renaud, Anxiety increases the feeling of presence in virtual reality, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 17 (2008) 376-391.
[6]
A.H. Buss, M. Perry, The aggression questionnaire, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63 (1992) 452-459.
[7]
J.P. Cater, The nose have it!, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 1 (1992) 493-494.
[8]
Y. Chen, Olfactory display: Development and application in virtual reality therapy, in: Proceedings of the 16th international conference on artificial reality and telexistence, Hangzhou, China, 2006, pp. 580-584.
[9]
Y. Choy, A.J. Fyer, J.D. Lipsitz, Treatment of specific phobia in adults, Clinical Psychology Review, 27 (2007) 266-286.
[10]
M. Clemente, B. Rey, A. Rodriguez-Pujadas, A. Barros-Loscertales, R.M. Banos, C. Botella, An fMRI study to analyze neural correlates of presence during virtual reality experiences, Interacting with Computers, 26 (2014) 269-284.
[11]
J.J. Cummings, J.N. Bailenson, How immersive is enough? A meta-analysis of the effect of immersive technology on user presence, Media Psychology (2015) 1-38.
[12]
V. Curtis, A. Biran, Dirt, disgust and disease: Is hygiene in our genes?, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 44 (2001) 17-31.
[13]
V. Curtis, M. de Barra, R. Aunger, Disgust as an adaptive system for disease avoidance behavior, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 366 (2011) 389-401.
[14]
D. De Smet, L. Van Speybroeck, J. Verplaetse, Why men do not make good vampires. Testing the ability of humans to detect true blood, Annals of Human Biology, 3 (2012) 1-10.
[15]
J. Diemer, G.W. Alpers, H.M. Peperkorn, Y. Shiban, A. Muhlberger, The impact of perception and presence on emotional reactions: A review of research in virtual reality, Frontiers in Psychology, 6 (2015) 26.
[16]
H.Q. Dinh, N. Walker, C. Song, A. Kobayashi, L.F. Hodges, Evaluating the importance of multi-sensory input on memory and the sense of presence in virtual environments, Proceedings of the IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (1999) 222-228.
[17]
G.A. Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse: The shocking story of greed, neglect, and inhumane treatment inside the U.S. meat industry, Prometheus Books, N.Y Amherst, 1997.
[18]
J.S. Foer, Eating animals, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2009.
[19]
G. Ghinea, O. Ademoye, The sweet smell of success: Enhancing multimedia applications with olfaction, ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing Communications and Applications, 8 (2012) 2.
[20]
A. Gorini, C.S. Capideville, G. De Leo, F. Mantovani, G. Riva, The role of immersion and narrative in mediated presence: The virtual hospital experience, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (2011) 99-105.
[21]
J.H.B. de Groot, M.A.M. Smeets, A. Kaldewaij, M.A.J. Duijndam, G.R. Semin, Chemosignals communicate human emotions, Psychological Science, 23 (2012) 1417-1424.
[22]
N.S. Herrera, R.P. McMahan, Development of a simple and low-cost olfactory display for immersive media experiences, in: Proceedings of the 2nd ACM international workshop on immersive media experiences, 2014, pp. 1-6.
[23]
C.W. Hoge, C.A. Castro, S.C. Messer, D. McGurk, D.I. Cotting, R.L. Koffman, Combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health problems, and barriers to care, New England Journal of Medicine, 351 (2004) 13-22.
[24]
L. Jones, C.A. Bowers, D. Washburn, A. Cortes, R. Vijaya Satya, The effect of olfaction on immersion into virtual environments, Human Performance, Situation Awareness, and Automation: Current Research and Trends, 2 (2004) 282-285.
[25]
M.D. Kozlov, M.K. Johansen, Real behavior in virtual environments: Psychology experiments in a simple virtual-reality paradigm using video games, Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 13 (2010) 711-714.
[26]
J. Laarni, N. Ravaja, T. Saari, T. Hartmann, Personality-related differences in subjective presence, in: Proceedings of Presence 2004: The 7th International Workshop on Presence, 2004, pp. 88-95.
[27]
R.W. Levenson, P. Ekman, W.V. Friesen, Voluntary facial action generates emotion-specific autonomous nervous system activity, Psychophysiology, 27 (1990) 363-384.
[28]
M. Lombard, T. Ditton, At the heart of it all: The concept of presence, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3 (1997).
[29]
C.V. Maani, H.G. Hoffman, M. Morrow, A. Maiers, K. Gaylord, L.L. McGhee, Virtual reality pain control during burn wound debridement of combat-related burn injuries using robot-like arm mounted VR goggles, Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection and Critical Care, 71 (2011) S125-S130.
[30]
M. Meehan, B. Insko, M. Whitton, F.P. Brooks, Physiological measures of presence in stressful virtual environments, ACM Transactions on Graphics, 21 (2002) 645-652.
[31]
B.E. Mennecke, J.L. Triplett, L.M. Hassall, Z. Jordán Conde, R. Heer, An examination of a theory of embodied social presence in virtual worlds, Decision Sciences, 42 (2011) 413-450.
[32]
J.K. Moran, D.R. Dietrich, T. Elbert, B.M. Pause, L. Kübler, R. Weierstall, The scent of blood: A driver of human behavior?, PLoS One, 10 (2015) e0137777.
[33]
F. Nakalzumi, Y. Yanagida, H. Noma, K. Hosaka, Spotscents: A novel method for natural scent delivery using multiple scent projectors, in: Proceedings of the IEEE virtual reality annual international symposium, 2006, pp. 213-218.
[34]
S. Noel, S. Dumoulin, T. Whalen, M. Ward, J.A. Steward, E. Lee, A¿breeze enhances presence in a virtual environment, in: Conference Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Workshop on haptic, audio and visual environments and their applications, 2004, pp. 63-68.
[35]
K.L. Nowak, M. Krcmar, K.M. Farrar, The causes and consequences of presence: Considering the influence of violent video games on presence and aggression, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 17 (2008) 256-268.
[36]
M. Oaten, R.J. Stevenson, T.I. Case, Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism, Psychological Bulletin, 135 (2009) 303-321.
[37]
L. Öst, Blood and injection phobia: Background and cognitive, physiological, and behavioral variables, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101 (1992) 68-74.
[38]
B. Pollock, Creating a flexible LVC architecture for mixed reality training of the dismounted warfighter, Iowa State University, 2012. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3442&context=etd
[39]
G.M. Reger, K.M. Holloway, C. Candy, B.O. Rothbaum, J. Difede, A.A. Rizzo, Effectiveness of virtual reality exposure therapy for active duty soldiers in a military mental health clinic, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24 (2011) 93-96.
[40]
A. Rizzo, A. Hartholt, M. Grimani, A. Leeds, M. Liewer, Virtual reality exposure therapy for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, Computer, 47 (2014) 31-37.
[41]
A. Rizzo, J. Pair, K. Graap, B. Manson, P.J. McNerney, B. Wiederhold, A¿virtual reality exposure therapy application for Iraq war military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder: From training to toy to treatment, in: NATO advanced research workshop on novel approached to the diagnosis and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, IOS Press, Washington DC, 2006, pp. 235-250.
[42]
I. Ródriguez-Ardura, F.J. Martínez-Lopez, Another look at 'being there' experiences in digital media: Exploring connections of telepresence with mental imagery, Computers in Human Behavior, 30 (2014) 508-518.
[43]
S. Rohrmann, H. Hopp, A. Schienle, V. Hodapp, Emotion regulation, disgust sensitivity, and psychophysiological responses to a disgust-inducing film, Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 22 (2009) 215-236.
[44]
C. Sas, G.M.P. O'Hare, Presence equation: An investigation into cognitive factors underlying presence, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 12 (2003) 523-537.
[45]
A. Schienle, R. Stark, D. Vaitl, Evaluative conditioning: A possible explanation for the acquisition of disgust responses?, Learning and Motivation, 32 (2001) 65-83.
[46]
V.A. Schriever, N. Reither, J. Gerber, E. Iannilli, T. Hummel, Olfactory bulb volume in smokers, Experimental Brain Research, 225 (2013) 153-157.
[47]
T.W. Schubert, F. Friedmann, H.T. Regenbrecht, Decomposing the sense of presence: Factor analytic insights, in: Presented at the 2nd international workshop on presence, University of Essex, UK, 1999.
[48]
M.J. Schuemie, P. Van Der Straaten, M. Krijn, C.A.P.G. Van Der Mast, Research on presence in virtual reality: a survey, CyberPsychology & Behavior, 4 (2001) 183-201.
[49]
B.D. Simpson, J.L. Cowgill, R.H. Gilkey, J.M. Weisenberger, Technological considerations in the design of multisensory virtual environments. How real does it need to be?, in: Handbook of virtual environments. Design, implementation, and applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2015, pp. 313-333.
[50]
M. Slater, How colorful was your day? Why questionnaires cannot assess presence in virtual environments, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 13 (2004) 484-493.
[51]
M. Slater, A. Antley, A. Davison, D. Swapp, C. Guger, A¿virtual reprise of the Stanley Milgram obedience experiments, PLoS One, 1 (2006) e39.
[52]
M. Slater, A. Steed, A¿virtual presence counter, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 9 (2000) 413-434.
[53]
M. Slater, S. Wilbur, A¿framework for immersive virtual environments (FIVE): Speculations on the role of presence in virtual environments, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 6 (1997) 603-616.
[54]
R. Stark, B. Walter, A. Schienle, D. Vaitl, Psychophysiological correlates of disgust and disgust sensitivity, Psychophysiology, 19 (2005) 50-60.
[55]
J. Steuer, Defining virtual reality - Dimensions determining telepresence, Journal of Communication, 42 (1992) 73-93.
[56]
M. Usoh, E. Catena, S. Arman, M. Slater, Using presence questionnaires in reality, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 9 (2000) 497-503.
[57]
J. Vlahos, The smell of war, Popular Science, 269 (2006). http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2006-08/smell-war
[58]
S.R. Vrana, The psychophysiology of disgust: Differentiating negative emotional contexts with facial EMG, Psychophysiology, 30 (1993) 279-286.
[59]
P. Walla, L. Deecke, Odours influence visually induced emotion: Behavior and neuroimaging, Sensors, 10 (2010) 8185-8197.
[60]
D. Weibel, B. Wissmath, F.W. Mast, Immersion in mediated environments: The role of personality traits, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (2010) 607-612.
[61]
B.K. Wiederhold, R. Davis, M.D. Wiederhold, The effects of immersiveness on physiology, in: Virtual environments in clinical psychology and neuroscience, IOS Press, Amsterdam, 1998, pp. 52-63.
[62]
B.G. Witmer, M.J. Singer, Measuring presence in virtual environments: A presence questionnaire, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7 (1998) 225-240.
[63]
J. Wolpe, P.J. Lang, A¿fear survey schedule for use in behaviour therapy, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2 (1964) 27-30.
Index Terms
- Mental beliefs about blood, and not its smell, affect presence in a violent computer game
Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.
Recommendations
Blood and Violence: Exploring the Impact of Gore in Violent Video Games
CHI PLAY '16: Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayViolence is a key element in video games and despite the extensive research in video game violence, there is still a debate on its psychophysiological effect. There is a lack of understanding on the elements of video game violence that influence ...
Violent Video Games and Attitudes Towards Victims of Crime: An Empirical Study Among Youth
Previous research has indicated that playing violent video games may be associated with an increase in acceptance of violence and positive attitudes towards perpetrators of crime. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between playing ...
Digital poison? Three studies examining the influence of violent video games on youth
In two experimental studies, playing violent games did not increase youth aggression.Youth who played violent games were also no less empathic toward others.Youth with prior mental health symptoms were no more influenced by violent games.Correlationally,...
Comments
Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.Information & Contributors
Information
Published In
Copyright © Elsevier Ltd.
Publisher
Elsevier Science Publishers B. V.
Netherlands
Publication History
Published: 01 October 2016
Author Tags
Qualifiers
- Research-article
Contributors
Other Metrics
Bibliometrics & Citations
Bibliometrics
Article Metrics
- 0Total Citations
- 0Total Downloads
- Downloads (Last 12 months)0
- Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0
Reflects downloads up to 19 Dec 2024