The Impact of Graphical Fidelity on Physiological Measures of Stress in a Virtual Reality Urban Environment

Christoffersen, Stephanie Ann ; Danielsen, Nicolai Laursen ; Sandkvist, Emil Otto

4. term

Medialogy, Master

2022

2022-05-25

53 pages

Navigating urban environments is a prevalent phenomenon in modern times which raises some complications as heavily trafficked areas within urban environments have shown to raise the stress levels of pedestrians. Virtual reality studies indicate that it is possible to recreate stress through exposure to virtual traffic and with that the goal of this report was to discover the required (if any) level of graphical realism to obtain these stress levels within Virtual Reality. Two geometrically identical virtual environment prototypes were designed and implemented. One prototype featured the application of the high-fidelity graphics and the other low-fidelity graphics. Each prototype featured a dynamic traffic system and an endless virtual locomotion solution using an arm swinging method. The experiment consisted of two groups (one for each prototype) of 16 participants that would traverse along the same specific route within their respective prototype. The study indicated there was a difference in the graphical realism between the prototypes and that some similar stress levels were found between real life and both virtual environments, however the cause and effect of stress within our experiment remain inconclusive.

Virtual Reality ; Electrodermal Activity ; Galvanic Skin Response ; Virtual Environment ; Graphical Realism ; Empatica ; Presence ; Pedestrian ; Traffic ; Physiological

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