Multi-sensory Integration in Virtual Reality (VR): Behavioral Consequences of Haptic Feedback

Location:  TEL, Room Auditorium 3 (20th floor), Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7, 10587 Berlin  

Date/Time: 16.12.2019, 14:15-15:00 

SPEAKER: Zeynep Akbal (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences)

Abstract: A significant amount of neural processing related to the haptic stimulus is perceived from our hands. With a focus on this, we aim to explore the role of haptic stimulation with a dataglove in an immersive VR environment. In the first experiment “Can task-irrelevant haptic feedback influence behavior in a VR task?” aims to develop and systematically test a new task to demonstrate the role of haptic stimulation (using a dataglove). After establishing the influence of haptic feedback within the first experiment, we will continue with the second experiment question “Can heartbeat-linked tactile stimulation bias behavior in decision making tasks in VR?” In this design, we will define the tactile feedback with the heartbeat of the participants (data from ECG will be transmitted to the datagloves). The goal of this research is to demonstrate whether the heartbeat linked tactile stimulation influences behavior in an immersive VR environment, in addition to the first experiment’s findings.