Data from: Measuring visual search and distraction in immersive virtual reality

An important issue of psychological research is how experiments conducted in the laboratory or theories based on such experiments relate to human performance in daily life. Immersive virtual reality (VR) allows control over stimuli and conditions at increased ecological validity. The goal of the present study was to accomplish a transfer of traditional paradigms that assess attention and distraction to immersive VR. To further increase ecological validity we explored attentional effects with daily objects as stimuli instead of simple letters. Participants searched for a target among distractors on the countertop of a virtual kitchen. Target-distractor discriminability was varied and the displays were accompanied by a peripheral flanker that was congruent or incongruent to the target. RT was slower when target-distractor discriminability was low and when flankers were incongruent. The results were replicated in a second experiment in which stimuli were presented on a computer screen in 2D. The study demonstrates the successful translation of traditional paradigms and manipulations into immersive VR and lays a foundation for future research on attention and distraction in VR. Further, we provide an outline for future studies that should utilize features of VR that are not available in traditional laboratory research.

心理学研究的核心议题之一，在于实验室开展的实验或基于此类实验构建的理论，如何与人类日常生活中的行为表现建立关联。沉浸式虚拟现实（VR）可实现对刺激与实验条件的精准控制，同时提升实验的生态效度。本研究的目标在于将用于评估注意与分心的传统实验范式，迁移至沉浸式VR环境中。为进一步提升生态效度，本研究采用日常物品作为刺激材料，而非简易字母，以此探究注意效应。实验参与者需在虚拟厨房的操作台台面，于各类分心物中搜寻目标刺激。实验中操控了目标-分心物辨别难度，并为每次视觉呈现搭配了与目标刺激一致或不一致的外周侧翼刺激。当目标-分心物辨别难度较低，且侧翼刺激与目标刺激不一致时，反应时（Reaction Time, RT）会显著延长。本研究在第二项实验中重复了上述结果：该实验以二维电脑屏幕呈现所有刺激材料。本研究证实，可将用于评估注意与分心的传统实验范式及变量操控方法，成功迁移至沉浸式VR环境中，为后续开展VR环境下的注意与分心相关研究奠定了基础。此外，本研究还为未来研究提供了参考框架：后续研究可利用传统实验室研究无法实现的VR特有功能开展实验。