Some evidence of adaptation to immersion in virtual reality

This paper describes a study in which 30 participants, all of whom had reported symptoms of malaise during their first immersion in virtual reality, were re-immersed in the virtual reality system on three further occasions in order to investigate the possibility that repeated immersions may produce a decrease in malaise as participants adapt to immersion in virtual reality. It was found that 18 of the participants reported a decrease in malaise during their second immersion from their highest malaise rating reported during their first immersion. Five reported a decrease during their third immersion from their highest malaise rating reported during their second immersion, and 13 reported a decrease during their fourth immersion. Although some participants did report an increase in malaise, whilst others reported no change, the decrease in reported symptoms from the first immersion to the fourth was none the less quite pronounced. Over half of the participants ceased to report symptoms, and reports of nausea became very low. There was very little change in the pattern of reported symptoms between the second and third immersions, but quite marked changes between the first and second immersions and between the third and fourth immersions.