Virtual Reality for Emotion Elicitation – A Review

Emotions are multifaceted phenomena that affect our behaviour, perception, and cognition. Increasing evidence indicates that induction mechanisms play a crucial role in triggering emotions by simulating the sensations required for an experimental design. Over the years, many reviews have evaluated a passive elicitation mechanism where the user is an observer, ignoring the importance of self-relevance in emotional experience. So, in response to the gap in the literature, this study intends to explore the possibility of using Virtual Reality (VR) as an active mechanism for emotion induction. VR can simulate controlled environments with high immersion, presence, and interaction to induce intense emotions. Therefore, researchers can evaluate emotional experiences in a realistic context. For the success and quality of research settings, VR must select the appropriate material to effectively evoke emotions. Therefore, in the present review, we evaluated to what extent VR virtual environments, videos, games, tasks, avatar, images, and 360-degree panoramas can elicit emotions. Further, we present public datasets, discuss challenges and recommendations, and review emotion-sensing interfaces related to VR research. The conclusions reveal the VR's potential to evoke emotions effectively and naturally by generating motivational and empathy mechanisms, which makes it an ecologically valid paradigm to study emotions.