Work

The vividness of mental imagery in virtual reality: A study on multisensory experiences in virtual tourism

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper aims to evaluate how different combinations of multisensory stimuli affect the vividness of users’ mental imagery in the context of virtual tourism. To this end, a between-subjects experimental study was conducted with 94 participants, who were allocated to either a positive or a negative immersive virtual environment. The positive environment contained only pleasant multisensory stimuli, whereas the negative contained only unpleasant stimuli. For each of the virtual experiences, a multisensory treasure hunt was developed, where each object found corresponded to a planned combination of stimuli (positive or negative, accordingly). The results showed that positive stimuli involving a higher number of sensory modalities resulted in higher reported vividness. In contrast, when the same multisensory modalities were delivered with negative stimuli, vividness levels decreased - an effect we attribute to potential cognitive overload. Nevertheless, some reduced negative combinations (audiovisual with smell and audiovisual with haptics) remained effective, indicating that olfactory and haptic cues play an important role in shaping users’ vividness of mental imagery, even in negative contexts.

Source: Computers & Graphics

DOI: 10.1016/j.cag.2025.104443

Authors: Mariana Magalhães, Miguel Melo, António Coelho, Maximino Bessa

Institutions: Universidade do Porto, INESC TEC, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro

Language: English

Topic: Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,770

Funder: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia