Comparing Continuous and Retrospective Emotion Ratings in Remote VR Study

TL;DR

This study compares continuous and retrospective emotion ratings in remote VR experiments, revealing significant differences in valence assessments and highlighting the importance of rating method choice for accurate emotion measurement.

Contribution

It introduces a remote VR experiment framework and compares two emotion rating methods, providing insights into their effects on emotion assessment accuracy.

Findings

Significant differences in valence ratings between methods

No significant differences in arousal ratings

Highlights the impact of rating timing and interface on emotion measurement

Abstract

This study investigates the feasibility of remote virtual reality (VR) studies conducted at home using VR headsets and video conferencing by deploying an experiment on emotion ratings. 20 participants used head-mounted displays to immerse themselves in 360{\deg} videos selected to evoke emotional responses. The research compares continuous ratings using a graphical interface to retrospective questionnaires on a digitized Likert Scale for measuring arousal and valence, both based on the self-assessment manikin (SAM). It was hypothesized that the two different rating methods would lead to significantly different values for both valence and arousal. The goal was to investigate whether continuous ratings during the experience would better reflect users' emotions compared to the post-questionnaire by mitigating biases such as the peak-end rule. The results show significant differences with moderate to strong effect sizes for valence and no significant differences for arousal with low to moderate effect sizes. This indicates the need for further investigation of the methods used to assess emotion ratings in VR studies. Overall, this study is an example of a remotely conducted VR experiment, offering insights into methods for emotion elicitation in VR by varying the timing and interface of the rating.