Immersive virtual environments of simulation for exposure therapy: Impact of multi-sensory stimulation in the sense of presence in an acrophobic context

In the last three decades with the Information Technologies advent and the growth of the concept of Virtual Environments, a set of new ways to perform tasks have emerged, in the most diversified areas of society. The main focus of this work was to verify if it was possible to increase the sense of presence through multi-sensory stimulation, creating a virtual environment of simulation that causes stress in exposure therapy, in this case in people who have a fear of heights. The evaluation of the sense of presence was made using the Portuguese version of a previously validated IPQ (Igroup Presence Questionnaire) and also through direct observation of the movements caused by oculomotor reflexes. Although the achievement results that were not very significant between the two tested groups, the multisensory simulation environment obtained better results in terms of involvement in relation to space and realism, which increased concentration in the experience. The obtained results seem to indicate that the alone addition of further stimuli does not lead to an increased feeling of presence, therefore existing the need to understand which are the critical stimuli for each assessment situation.