To Shelter or Not To Shelter: Exploring the Influence of Different Modalities in Virtual Reality on Individuals' Tornado Mitigation Behaviors

TL;DR

This study explores how different modalities in virtual reality influence individuals' tornado mitigation behaviors and examines the effects of repeated VR-based risk communication on risk habituation.

Contribution

It introduces a VR system with tornado risk scenarios and provides empirical insights into modality effects and habituation in risk communication.

Findings

Different VR modalities significantly affect mitigation behaviors.

Repeated VR risk communication can lead to risk habituation.

The mixed-methods approach offers comprehensive understanding.

Abstract

Timely and adequate risk communication before natural hazards can reduce losses from extreme weather events and provide more resilient disaster preparedness. However, existing natural hazard risk communications have been abstract, ineffective, not immersive, and sometimes counterproductive. The implementation of virtual reality (VR) for natural hazard risk communication presents a promising alternative to the existing risk communication system by offering immersive and engaging experiences. However, it is still unknown how different modalities in VR could affect individuals' mitigation behaviors related to incoming natural hazards. In addition, it is also not clear how the repetitive risk communication of different modalities in the VR system leads to the effect of risk habituation. To fill the knowledge gap, we developed a VR system with a tornado risk communication scenario and conducted a mixed-design human subject experiment (N = 24). We comprehensively investigated our research using both quantitative and qualitative results.