Age-related differences in subjective and physiological emotion evoked by immersion in natural and social virtual environments

Abstract

Age-related changes in emotional processing are complex, with a bias toward positive information. However, the impact of aging on emotional responses in positive everyday situations remains unclear. Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for investigating emotional processing, offering a unique balance between ecological validity and experimental control. Yet, limited evidence exists regarding its efficacy to elicit positive emotions in older adults. Our study aimed to explore age-related differences in positive emotional responses to immersion in both social and nonsocial virtual emotional environments. We exposed 34 younger adults and 24 older adults to natural and social 360-degree video content through a low immersive computer screen and a highly immersive Head-Mounted Display, while recording participants' physiological reactions. Participants also provided self-report of their emotions and sense of presence. The findings support VR's efficacy in eliciting positive emotions in both younger and older adults, with age-related differences in emotional responses influenced by the specific video content rather than immersion level. These findings underscore the potential of VR as a valuable tool for examining age-related differences in emotional responses and developing VR applications to enhance emotional wellbeing across diverse user populations.

Figure 1

Illustration of the experimental material.

Figure 2

Mean valence and arousal SAM scores reported by younger and older adults for each level of immersion and content. Error bars indicate standard errors from the mean. Points represent individual responses; their brightness indicates the number of participants giving the same rating (i.e., the darker a point is, the more participants attributed the same score).

Figure 3

Time-course of younger and older adults’ Heart Rate (HR) while they were watching in both levels of immersion the control, natural and social video contents. Ribbons indicate standard error from the mean.

Figure 4

The time course of younger and older adults’ Skin Conductance Level (SCL) range while they were watching in both levels of immersion the control, natural and social video contents. Ribbons indicate standard error from the mean.