Effect and Sensitivity Analysis of VR Gaming on Human Contact Force Perception

Emerging evidence suggests that prolonged virtual reality (VR) exposure may impair human sensory systems. Most research has focused on the visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular systems, but the impact of VR on haptic perception remains unclear. In this study, we investigated alterations in human sensitivity to contact force following VR gaming. A force perception task was designed to assess changes in contact force across six difficulty levels with step sizes ranging from 0.5 to 5 N. A total of 18 participants performed the task before VR, after 10 min, and after an additional 20 min of VR. The perceptual accuracy of correctly perceiving force changes at each difficulty level was measured across three test periods. The results indicated that 66.67% of participants experienced a negative impact from VR at the 1-N change step. Perceptual accuracy significantly decreased in this group, with a 9.17% reduction after 10 min and a 17.50% reduction after an additional 20 min. In contrast, minimal effects were observed in the remaining participants. These findings suggest that even short-term VR exposure can impair force discrimination in certain users, with the effects becoming more pronounced over time.