Experimental evaluation of the impact of virtual reality on the sentiment of fear

This study explores the effect of virtual reality on the sense of fear and presence in an immersive VR environment in comparison with a desktop screen. At the same time it attempts to answer whether users with specific psychological profiles measured with the Big 5 personality test are more susceptible to emotions of fear in digital environments than others. Although the analysis of the results did not produce statistically significant and conclusive findings, there is a strong indication towards increased presence and the sentiment of fear in a VR environment, as well as towards a relation of the Big 5 Openness to experience aspect with the fear levels of the participant.