Vivid Visualization

C YBER P S YCH O LO G Y & B EH AV IOR

Volume 3, Number 3, 2000

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Vivid Visualization in the Experience of Phobia in

Virtual Environments: Preliminary Results

MILTON P. HUANG, M.D., JOSEPH HIMLE, Ph.D., and NORMAN E. ALESSI, M.D.

ABSTRACT

We explored the effect of being able to form vivid mental images on the experience of phobia during exposure treatment in virtual environments. Taking subjects with acrophobia, we

randomized them to two treatment groups: in vivo exposure treatment in a real building versus virtual exposure in a model of the same building, projected in a CAVE™ Virtual Environment. Using Marks’ Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ-2) as a measure

of vividness of visual imagery, we performed Pearson correlations of vividness with amount

of fear experienced as measured by Pekala’s Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory

(PCI). Contrary to expectation, we found a negative correlation between vividness of visualization and amount of fear experienced during exposure (R 5 2 0.77728, p 5 0.0137). There

was a positive correlation between fear and vividness of visualization during the exposure

experience as measured by the PCI (R 5 0.94083, p 5 0.0171). These results are discussed in

terms of possible differences between the VVIQ and PCI vividness measures as well as possible effects from the subject’s experience.

INTRODUCTION

V

(VEs) are being

broadly applied in the clinical treatment of

psychiatric disorders. The successful application

of a VE for such purposes will depend on its

ability to create a specific emotional response.1

Although clinical trials and case reports support

the argument that VEs are effective in the treatment of phobias,2,3 few have explored the question of what psychological factors determine

who will respond emotionally to a virtual phobic experience. Most of the studies that attempt

to determine the impact of VEs have measured

the “sense of presence” one has in the...