The authors are very thankful to the managing team of Elotrolado.net, because without their help this study would have been impossible to conduct. We are also grateful to Encuestafacil.com, which offered us their services free of charge so that we could create the questionnaire and use their servers to gather the data. Finally, we appreciate the feedback and support received from the Scientific and Ethical Committee of the Nebrija University and from Alfonso X el Sabio University.

The protocol was submitted to the Scientific and Ethical Committee of the Nebrija University, in which a group of external experts reviewed and validated the process. To be able to participate in the study, we required a written acceptance informed consent as recommended by the Declaration of Helsinki17, and it was made clear to the participants that they were not going to be involved in any experimental condition.
1. Design of the research instrument
<ol>
	<li>Design a first draft of the questionnaire to meet the goals of the study (see a sample draft of the questionnaire provided as Supplementary File 1). 
	NOTE: The draft is created with Microsoft Word so it can be easily shared and modified. Questions included single, multiple, and open answers that were grouped in different thematic pages:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
	<li>Page 1: Accept a written informed consent obligatorily.</li>
	<li>Page 2: Demographic and social data of participants.</li>
	<li>Page 3: Descriptive information of previous VR experience as well as frequency of usage.</li>
	<li>Page 4: Subjective opinions and attitudes regarding VR.</li>
	<li>Page 5: Beliefs about the future of VR in education3.</li>
</ul>
<ol>
	<li>Send a draft to three social scientists and experts in technology that are external to the research team. The task of this committee is to review the experimental design, including ethical aspects and study design according to scientific guidelines. Also, they must validate the tool, considering aspects such as item comprehension (both questions and possible answers) in relation to the research goals.</li>
	<li>Design a definitive version of the questionnaire (see Supplementary File 2), considering the suggestions made by the group of experts, so it can be submitted to a scientific and ethical committee along with a research report of the project. 
	NOTE: We obtained a positive evaluation both in the scientific and ethical areas of the Nebrija University committee (see the positive evaluation of the Nebrija University committee provided as Supplementary File 3). Also, there was a follow-up of the entire research process conducted by the same committee.</li>
</ol>
2. Adapting the questionnaire to the online specification of a secure server
<ol>
	<li>Go to the main page of the software as a service (SaaS) with a private server (see Table of Materials) as a registered user of the platform (a registration process that must be done previously by adding personal data) and select Create your survey from scratch (see Figure 1).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 1" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig1.jpg" /> 
Figure 1: How to create the questionnaire from scratch. (1) Click on New Survey icon; (2) Select Create Your Survey from Scratch. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig1large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="2">
	<li>Create several pages of the questionnaire with the questions as well as with possible answers through the SaaS with a private server. 
	NOTE: In this step it is important to follow the recommendations received during the validation process by the group of experts. Also, in the instructions to the participants explain the question posed correctly and the type of answer (e.g., open, closed, one- or multiple-choice, etc.) that must be filled out (see Figure 2).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 2" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig2.jpg" /> 
Figure 2: How to design the questionnaire. (1) Edit the survey; (2) Add and configure pages and questions; (3&#8211;5) Develop pages, questions, and answers. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig2large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="3">
	<li>Once the survey is created and saved (see the final questionnaire in Supplemental File 2), return to the main menu of the platform, select the questionnaire, and click on the icon Open | Close Public Survey to make it available to participants. After that, click on the icon Obtain a Link to the Survey, choosing one of several options by which participants will access the survey (e.g., a link embedded in an email or in a website, an iframe in a website, a pop up in a website, a link to computers of a call center, see Figure 3). 
	NOTE: The criterion to develop the final tool were that (1) the questionnaire had to be completed with any electronic device with Internet access (e.g., tablets, personal computers, smartphones); (2) participants had to fill out the questionnaire just one time (to this end, the chosen system must be able to keep the information of users who have already participated by identifying the IP of the device that was used to access and complete the survey); (3) the selected system had to guarantee the anonymity of the participants at all times, allowing the data to be stored on a secure private server.</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 3" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig3.jpg" /> 
Figure 3: How to obtain a link to the survey. (1) Open the survey; (2) Click on Obtain a Link to the Survey icon; (3) Select the chosen method. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig3large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
3. Sampling method
<ol>
	<li>Go to the internet portal as a registered user (registration that must be done before completing all the personal data) and create a thread in the VR forum to detail the study (see Table of Materials). Post a hyperlink to the survey hosted in the online private server (see Figure 4).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 4" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig4.jpg" /> 
Figure 4: How to launch a thread in the VR forum. (1) Click on the Sistemas VR icon; (2) Click on NUEVO HILO icon; (3,4) Write a post with the questionnaire link included. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig4large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="2">
	<li>Go to the main page of the SaaS as a registered user of the platform, select the questionnaire created, and click on Results. On the pop-up menu, click on the icon Questionnaire to access the filled-out questionnaires directly. Eliminate all the incomplete or erroneous questionnaires through the SaaS (see Figure 5).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 5" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig5.jpg" /> 
Figure 5: How to eliminate all the incomplete or erroneous questionnaires. (1) Click on Results icon; (2) click on Export icon; (3) Eliminate all the incomplete or erroneous questionnaires. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig5large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="3">
	<li>Once the questionnaires reach the minimum number of participants (&#62;100) after excluding incomplete questionnaires, go to the main page of the SaaS as a registered user of the platform, select the questionnaire, and click on the icon Open/Close Public Survey to finish the survey, so no one else can participate again (see step 1 in Figure 3 again). 
	NOTE: The participants of this study were 117 VR users (21 females and 96 males) who owned a VR HMD (any available in Spain). Note that the final sample of 117 participants resulted from a screening and filtering of 578 questionnaires, of which we excluded many undelivered cases, as well as 36 questionnaires that were incomplete, without applying any other filter to the data. As for the mean age of the participants, &#956; = 36.91 years old with a standard deviation of &#963;X = 6.39 (&#956; = 36.19 and &#963;X = 7.50 for females, and &#956; = 37.07 and &#963;X = 6.15 for males).</li>
</ol>
4. Statistical analyses
<ol>
	<li>Go to the main page of the SaaS as a registered user of the platform, select the survey created and click on the icon Results. On the pop-up menu, click on Export and select the pop-up options of the report detailed (advanced spreadsheet format), in Text and with .csv extension (see Figure 6). Once the questionnaires are completed by the participants, export them to an email account in .csv format, so these can be kept in a safe, private, and protected place.</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 6" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig6.jpg" /> 
Figure 6: How to export data to use in the statistical software package. (1) Click on Results icon; (2) Click on Questionnaires icon; (3) Select Text and csv in the Detailed option. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig6large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="2">
	<li>Open the statistical software (see Table of Materials) and select File Menu | Import Data | CSV Data. Select the.csv file previously saved. This process allows transformation of the anonymous data into the analysis format required by the statistical software package (see Figure 7).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 7" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig7.jpg" /> 
Figure 7: How to import data in the statistical software package. Select File Menu | Import Data | CSV Data. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig7large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="3">
	<li>Select the variables to analyze statistically (&#34;Gender&#34;, &#34;Age&#34;, &#34;Educational Qualification&#34;, &#34;Current Direct Relationship with Formal Education&#34;, &#34;Previous Experiences with Sophisticated VR HMD&#34;, &#34;Level of the Private VR HMD&#34;, &#34;Number of Years Using VR&#34;, &#34;Usage Frequency&#34;, &#34;VR Usage for Educational Purposes&#34;, &#34;Interest in VR for Educational Purposes&#34;, &#34;Optimism Regarding the Future Pedagogical Possibilities of Virtual Reality&#34; and &#34;Optimism Regarding the Future Pedagogical Possibilities of Virtual Reality&#34;) and delete the rest of the information imported by the .sav file generated by the statistical software package.</li>
	<li>Assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire with the Alpha&#39;s Cronbach with the statistical software package. To this end, select the Analyze Menu | Scale | Reliability Analysis, and transfer all the variables to the Reliability Analysis dialogue box. Finally, click on the OK icon to generate the desired output (see Figure 8). 
	NOTE: The questionnaire had a high reliability and internal consistency, measured through the Alpha&#39;s Cronbach (&#945; = 0.826).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 8" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig8.jpg" /> 
Figure 8: How to assess the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Select Analyze Menu | Scale | Reliability Analysis. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig8large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="5">
	<li>Carry out the descriptive analysis with the statistical software package. Explore descriptive statistics such as the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation for the quantitative variable &#34;Age&#34;. Study frequency distribution in the rest of the variables. To carry this analysis out, select Analyze Menu | Descriptive Statistics | Frequencies and, after the output, Analyze | Descriptive Statistics | Descriptive (see Figure 9).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 9" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig9.jpg" /> 
Figure 9: How to carry out the descriptive analysis of the data. Select Analyze Menu | Descriptive Statistics | Frequencies and, after the output, Analyze | Descriptive Statistics | Descriptive. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig9large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="6">
	<li>Conduct One-Way ANOVA analysis with the statistical software package. To this end, select Analyze Menu | Compare Means | One-Way ANOVA, and in the One-Way ANOVA dialogue box put &#34;Age&#34; as the factor and the rest of the variables as dependent variables (see Figure 10). 
	NOTE: This process should be done for each of the nominal (&#34;Gender&#34;, &#34;Current Direct Relationship with Formal Education&#34;, &#34;Previous Experiences with Sophisticated VR HMD&#34;, &#34;VR Usage for Educational Purposes&#34;, &#34;Interest in VR for Educational Purposes&#34;, &#34;Optimism Regarding the Future Pedagogical Possibilities of Virtual Reality&#34;, and &#34;Optimism Regarding the Future Pedagogical Possibilities of Virtual Reality&#34;) and ordinal variables (&#34;Educational Qualification&#34;, &#34;Level of the Private VR HMD&#34;, &#34;Number of Years Using VR&#34;, and &#34;Usage Frequency&#34;). The output shows the statistical significance of &#34;Age&#34; as a discrete quantitative variable by comparing means with the Snedecor&#39;s F distribution (non-considering equality of variances).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 10" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig10.jpg" /> 
Figure 10: How to conduct One-Way ANOVA analysis. Select Analyze Menu | Compare Means | One-Way ANOVA. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig10large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>
<ol start="7">
	<li>Conduct the Chi-squared test on contingency tables to test whether or not there is a relationship between the variables, and Somers&#39; d to reflect the strength and direction of the associations. To this end, go to Analyze menu | Descriptive Statistics | Crosstabs and, in the Crosstabs dialogue box, click on Statistics and select options Chi-squared and Somers&#39; d and click on Continue (see Figure 11).</li>
	<li>In the Crosstabs dialogue box, transfer one of the nominal or ordinal variables as rows and the rest as columns. This process must be repeated for each of the variables in the rows, eliminating the ones already analyzed, to obtain all the correlations between them.</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 11" class="xfigimg" src="/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig11.jpg" /> 
Figure 11: How to conduct Chi-squared and Somers d test. (1) Select Analyze Menu | Descriptive Statistics | Crosstabs; (2) Select Chi-squared and Somers&#39; d options. <a href="https://www-jove-com.remotexs.ntu.edu.sg/files/ftp_upload/60188/60188fig11large.jpg" target="_blank">Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.</a>

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The authors have nothing to disclose.

This study explores the profile of Spanish early adopters of VR, assessing their interest in the use of VR as a learning tool. Therefore, along with other studies, it offers a fresh perspective on the real possibilities of VR and its applications to the classroom9.
The users of VR devices live literally everywhere, so there is not a physical place to identify and locate them. For this reason, the only possible way to find them is through VR forums and websites that VR users visit to find information. In conclusion, not only did we need to use the virtual space to survey VR users, but it was also mandatory to proceed with an online questionnaire.
Finding the sample was complex because the first VR HMDs have been on the market for less than 3 years. It is worth mentioning that we should not mistake the consolidation of technology for its popularity: VR may be fairly popular despite most people having never tried it. This narrowed the population and sample to be studied. Finding VR users was another difficulty to overcome, because they form a heterogeneous group with different interests and socio-demographic characteristics and are hard to reach and locate. Also, they use different VR head-mounted displays (e.g., PlayStation VR: PSVR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality: WMR) and platforms (e.g., personal computers, Sony PlayStation 4, smartphones)9 which makes it even harder to find them.
An online questionnaire was the only possible way to examine early VR adopters&#39; preferences and interests in the use as a learning tool, because the dispersion of users in different locations and systems makes any face-to-face consultation or any other methodology common in the social sciences, such as interviews or focus groups, impossible. However, this method is not without limitations, since the participants&#39; answers were limited to the questions, most of which were structured.
In addition to this, the real number of Spanish VR early adopters is difficult to know because most manufacturers do not make the information about their sales public for fear of discouraging potential investors or clients. Nonetheless, we can estimate this number if we have a look at indirect sources. For instance, in 2018 less than 4 million VR HMDs were sold on the worldwide market18, which makes users of these technological applications, software, and video games less than 1% of the total population19 (i.e., approximately 42% of the worldwide population20. Therefore, less than 5 per thousand of the population can be regarded as early adopters.
One of the main implications of this study lies in the relationship between the educational field and VR, which is at a critical moment21. VR technology is now taking its first commercial steps, a fact that explains why efforts are currently directed at entertainment and leisure18,19. The results of this study show that users&#39; interest in entertainment is much greater in VR HMDs than in video consoles (PSVR). Also, this interest is stronger in males who use their laptops or computers more frequently. As for the early adopters, learning is not a priority for them, and those who are interested find themselves with very few VR options. This can be seen, for instance, in the Oculus Store that has a very small number of VR educational applications22. Yet, its current usage is far from being insignificant, with 13.7% of use.
According to some indicators analyzed by the IDC Corporate USA21, the sales of VR devices has increased 27.2% during the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018. This has occurred despite the fact that it was believed that the sector had stagnated. This shows how the VR industry is growing at an even faster rate than expected. And this is surely due to the existence of new viewers such as the Standalone VR HMD Oculus Quest that was launched to the market in the beginning of 2019.
Our results also indicate that interest in using VR for educational purposes is much higher than its actual use. Also, half of the users felt optimistic when asked about the educational possibilities of VR. This, along with the fact that VR is still entering education despite unideal conditions, may be taken as a positive fact. This conclusion is similar to that of Yildirim&#39;s11 or Fern&#225;ndez-Robles10, who also found that students were interested in the use of VR as an educational tool. According to our results it can be concluded that the lack of VR educational applications may be impeding advances and somehow affecting the interest of potential users. Consequently, the future of the relationship between education and VR may depend on the growth and evolution of new applications within this field. Without them, we run the risk of wasting an excellent opportunity.
However, how this relationship between education and virtual reality will progress in the future depends on application development and on the evolution of this sector. Our results show that, on the one hand, the lack of applications may hinder the interest of users. On the other hand, without the applications, these first opportunities could quickly disappear.
VR accessibility is another major issue, because most teachers who participated in this study showed a preference for low-cost kits and reported a sporadic use. Perhaps if costs were reduced, professionals in the educational field would prefer better equipment and would also increase the time of use, which, in turn, could change their minds about VR as a learning tool9. However, given that VR is just emerging within education, it may be too soon to make any conclusive statements. Consequently, we must wait for the consolidation of this technology if we are to make more accurate evaluations of its virtues, potentials, and shortcomings.

Information and communication technologies are evolving rapidly to make it easier for human beings to communicate and relate to each other, and the distance and time that someone needs to contact and interact with someone else is reduced. However, this connection, when made through technology, is still much poorer and limited than face-to-face contact1.
VR provides a major advance in simulating physical experiences, allowing us to interact within a computer environment that feels real, giving us a sense of presence and closeness. This is one of the main reasons why VR occupies a privileged place in the plans of technology development of important companies. However, if they want to meet the needs of their potential customers, research on VR is essential to accomplish this goal2.
In Spain, as in most Western societies, the emergence of the first commercial head-mounted displays (HMD) capable of providing acceptable immersion experiences3 increased the interest in VR, leading to the development of software and VR experiences. For instance, some of the most important VR studies are currently Spanish, such as Vertical Robot, awarded multiple times for its products4, or the Tessera Studios and Dual Mirror Games, all of them of international prestige. The educational and scientific spheres have also experienced a whole explosion of research and applied educational experiences from 2015 onwards, as shown in the review by Aznar-D&#237;az, Romero-Rodr&#237;guez, and Rodr&#237;guez-Garc&#237;a5.
Most universities are already aware of the crucial role that VR will play not only in the business and industry sector, but also in many scientific disciplines. Therefore, they are working on several research and innovation lines. For example, the Alfonso X el Sabio University is a pioneer worldwide in the use of VR simulation and augmented reality for training future doctors at the &#34;UAX Virtual Simulation Hospital&#34;, unique in the world. Furthermore, this university applies VR in social, psychological, and educational research6.
Since the popularization of the Internet a few decades ago, different educational methodologies have evolved towards the so-called e-learning that a growing number of universities are adopting7,8. This online learning system is aimed at developing distance learning through technological means, some of which were developed specifically for it, while others were incorporated and adapted for educational purposes. However, e-learning is not exempt from limitations when it comes to social interaction. In this sense, VR considerably reduces some of these shortcomings, making interaction between people easier and much more realistic than any other technology. Also, it takes advantage of all the possibilities that technology offers us, creating an almost infinite world of opportunities3. For instance, VR would allow us to travel through the universe, or along the seabed, to see dinosaurs, to observe the microscopic world, or even to live emotions associated with certain experiences and social events in a simulated way. Therefore, VR could be a vital educational resource, helping teachers in their struggle to engage students with classroom topics 9,10,11.
However, not every aspect of VR is positive, and some downsides must be considered. As mentioned above, it would be useless to develop new and educational applications for VR if the potential trainees and students were not willing to use it or preferred other forms of e-learning, which could be narrower yet more aligned with their true interests and preferences. This is why the desired relationship between VR and learning not only depends on a world of exciting possibilities, but more importantly, on building this relationship upon real social needs and demands. We must bear in mind that VR was recently targeted by companies, and that less than 1% of the total worldwide population has used it. VR is also a technology that is still in its infancy and that cannot be understood if someone has not used it. This last point explains why VR is surrounded by so many prejudices that result either from ignorance or from the social fear of novelty12,13.
To bridge this gap between potential uses of VR and actual demand, it is necessary to find out the expectations of those early adopters that purchase HMDs as soon as they are available in the market. These users are so powerfully attracted to technological innovations that they do not fear purchasing new products that may succeed or fail commercially. Therefore, unlike the rest of the population, the uncertainty that surrounds these new products does not affect them. For this reason, they are the first to discover the real possibilities of VR technology not yet established in the market. Consequently, they can provide information at a real user level, making them a valuable source for this study.
As a sampling method, we designed an online examination questionnaire that was filled out by a representative convenience sample of early adopters. Participants were recruited from a VR forum in a Spanish portal for communication and information technologies, digital leisure, and video games with more than 460,000 users and ten million monthly visits14 (Table of Materials). We created a thread that received 2,000 visits in less than 2 months. The participants who accessed the questionnaire through the hyperlink responded to all the questions raised.
So far, in Spain this is the only website with a specific VR forum and more than 400 threads. Around 76,000 early VR adopters contributed messages and posts talking about all HMDs and platforms on the market15. For this reason, it is the best place to locate a homogeneous convenience sample of early VR adopters. According to Jager, Putnick, and Bornstein16, when a subgroup is homogeneous on one or more sociodemographic factors, we can estimate results with clearer generalizability, providing more accurate accounts of population effects and subpopulation differences. It also eliminates possible biases common in heterogenous convenience sampling.
Our research goals were: (1) to study the profile of early adopters; (2) to examine the current state of VR as an educational technology, determining its degree of implementation; (3) to assess the acceptance of VR as a learning tool among early adopters.

<table><tbody><tr><td>Encuestafacil.com Saas (Software as a Service)</td><td>Encuestafacil.com</td><td>2019</td><td>Software as a Service in the Encuestafacil.com private data server</td></tr><tr><td>Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)</td><td>IBM</td><td>24</td><td>Software package used in statistical analysis of data</td></tr><tr><td>VR Forum in Elotrolado.net online portal</td><td>New EOL, S.L.</td><td>2019</td><td>The elotrolado.net is a Spanish website for communication and information technologies, digital leisure and video games, with more than 460,000 users and ten million of monthly visits. So far, it is the only Spanish website with a specific VR forum with more than 400 threads. Around 76,000 early VR adopters contribute with messages and posts talking about all HMD, and platforms on the market.</td></tr></tbody></table>

online explorative study on the learning uses of virtual reality among early adopters

Virtual reality (VR) has shown great educational potential because it makes it possible to simulate any desired situation or event, thus playing an important role in addressing current educational challenges. Despite the unlimited learning possibilities that VR may offer, unless users are willing to apply virtual devices to education, the investment of time, money, and effort will be fruitless. It is therefore crucial to assess the educational interest of the first generation of VR users and to identify their current needs. To this end, in this study we designed an online questionnaire and applied it through the SaaS (Software as a service) of a private server. The sample consisted of 117 early VR adopters recruited via a main portal of communication and information technologies in Spain. In order to engage participants, we posted a thread in the main forum, which is dedicated to the advances and potential uses of VR. Once the responses were gathered, we analyzed the relationship between 12 variables (mean contrasts with Snedecor&#39;s F, and contingency analysis with chi-square and Sommer&#39;s d). The results showed that the current profile of a VR user is a male over 35 years old, with university studies, and who has purchased his viewer recently (&#60;1 year). As for the learning and teaching applications that these users were interested in, only 13.7% of the participants in this study use VR for educational purposes, although 28.2% were interested, indicating that perhaps the lack of applications or learning experiences may be hampering the use of VR within education. Almost half of the early adopters surveyed would like to learn using VR technology and are somehow optimistic about the relationship between VR and education, particularly those who are younger.

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Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters

This article describes the profile of Spanish early adopters of virtual reality and their interests and preferences regarding learning and educational applications for this technology. To this aim, we designed an online questionnaire and interviewed 117 users of the main virtual reality forum on the Internet.

Virtual reality (VR) has shown great educational potential because it makes it possible to simulate any desired situation or event, thus playing an ...

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Nanyang Technological University

Research

JoVE Journal

Behavior

8.2K Views.  Alfonso X El Sabio University. Ik geloof dat virtual reality is gemaakt om veel dingen drastisch te veranderen in onze samenleving. Bijvoorbeeld, voortgezet leren, hoewel de term lijn voor deze evolutie is onbekend. De toepassing van een online vragenlijst in een gespecialiseerd forum van VR-gebruikers stelt ons in staat om snel en gemakkelijk toegang te krijgen tot onze gemeenschap van early adopters van over de hele wereld.Dankzij VR early adopter consult en ervaringsanalyse kunnen we de waarschijnlijkheid en moge...

Video: Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality 

Fear conditioning is a widely used paradigm in non-human animal research to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying fear and anxiety. A major challenge in conducting conditioning studies in humans is the ability to strongly manipulate or simulate the environmental contexts that are associated with conditioned emotional behaviors. In this regard, virtual reality (VR) technology is a promising tool. Yet, adapting this technology to meet experimental constraints requires special accommodations. Here we address the methodological issues involved when conducting fear conditioning in a fully immersive 6-sided VR environment and present fear conditioning data.
In the real world, traumatic events occur in complex environments that are made up of many cues, engaging all of our sensory modalities. For example, cues that form the environmental configuration include not only visual elements, but aural, olfactory, and even tactile. In rodent studies of fear conditioning animals are fully immersed in a context that is rich with novel visual, tactile and olfactory cues. However, standard laboratory tests of fear conditioning in humans are typically conducted in a nondescript room in front of a flat or 2D computer screen and do not replicate the complexity of real world experiences. On the other hand, a major limitation of clinical studies aimed at reducing (extinguishing) fear and preventing relapse in anxiety disorders is that treatment occurs after participants have acquired a fear in an uncontrolled and largely unknown context. Thus the experimenters are left without information about the duration of exposure, the true nature of the stimulus, and associated background cues in the environment1. In the absence of this information it can be difficult to truly extinguish a fear that is both cue and context-dependent. Virtual reality environments address these issues by providing the complexity of the real world, and at the same time allowing experimenters to constrain fear conditioning and extinction parameters to yield empirical data that can suggest better treatment options and/or analyze mechanistic hypotheses.
In order to test the hypothesis that fear conditioning may be richly encoded and context specific when conducted in a fully immersive environment, we developed distinct virtual reality 3-D contexts in which participants experienced fear conditioning to virtual snakes or spiders. Auditory cues co-occurred with the CS in order to further evoke orienting responses and a feeling of "presence" in subjects 2 . Skin conductance response served as the dependent measure of fear acquisition, memory retention and extinction.

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality

Classical fear conditioning paradigm was adapted for human participants in a fully immersive virtual reality setting. Using a discrimination paradigm, conditioned fear, cue and context memory retention, and extinction was measured with skin conductance response to dynamic virtual snakes and spiders (the conditioned stimuli) in two distinct virtual contexts.

Fear conditioning is a widely used paradigm in non-human animal research to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying fear and anxiety. A major ...

Neuroscience

Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills

Cognitive impairments affect the majority of patients with schizophrenia and these impairments predict poor long term psychosocial outcomes.&#160; Treatment studies aimed at cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia not only require demonstration of improvements on cognitive tests, but also evidence that any cognitive changes lead to clinically meaningful improvements.&#160; Measures of &#8220;functional capacity&#8221; index the extent to which individuals have the potential to perform skills required for real world functioning. &#160;Current data do not support the recommendation of any single instrument for measurement of functional capacity.&#160; The Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT) is a novel, interactive gaming based measure of functional capacity that uses a realistic simulated environment to recreate routine activities of daily living. Studies are currently underway to evaluate and establish the VRFCAT&#8217;s sensitivity, reliability, validity, and practicality.&#160;This new measure of functional capacity is practical, relevant, easy to use, and has several features that improve validity and sensitivity of measurement of function in clinical trials of patients with CNS disorders.

A challenge for proving treatment efficacy for cognitive impairments in schizophrenia is finding the optimizing measurement of skills related to everyday functioning.&#160; The Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT) is an interactive gaming based computerized measure aimed at skills associated with everyday functioning, including baseline impairments and treatment related changes.

Cognitive impairments affect the majority of patients with schizophrenia and these impairments predict poor long term psychosocial outcomes.&#160; ...

Using a Virtual Store As a Research Tool to Investigate Consumer In-store Behavior

People&#39;s responses to products and/or choice environments are crucial to understanding in-store consumer behaviors. Currently, there are various approaches (e.g., surveys or laboratory settings) to study in-store behaviors, but the external validity of these is limited by their poor capability to resemble realistic choice environments. In addition, building a real store to meet experimental conditions while controlling for undesirable effects is costly and highly difficult. A virtual store developed by virtual reality techniques potentially transcends these limitations by offering the simulation of a 3D virtual store environment in a realistic, flexible, and cost-efficient way. In particular, a virtual store interactively allows consumers (participants) to experience and interact with objects in a tightly controlled yet realistic setting. This paper presents the key elements of using a desktop virtual store to study in-store consumer behavior. Descriptions of the protocol steps to: 1) build the experimental store, 2) prepare the data management program, 3) run the virtual store experiment, and 4) organize and export data from the data management program are presented. The virtual store enables participants to navigate through the store, choose a product from alternatives, and select or return products. Moreover, consumer-related shopping behaviors (e.g., shopping time, walking speed, and number and type of products examined and bought) can also be collected. The protocol is illustrated with an example of a store layout experiment showing that shelf length and shelf orientation influence shopping- and movement-related behaviors. This demonstrates that the use of a virtual store facilitates the study of consumer responses. The virtual store can be especially helpful when examining factors that are costly or difficult to change in real life (e.g., overall store layout), products that are not presently available in the market, and routinized behaviors in familiar environments.

This paper describes the use of a desktop virtual store to create virtual shopping environments to investigate in-store consumer behavior. A description of the protocol to build and run experiments, example results from an experiment concerning store layout, and important considerations when conducting virtual store experiments are presented.

People&#39;s responses to products and/or choice environments are crucial to understanding in-store consumer behaviors. Currently, there are various ...

A Networked Desktop Virtual Reality Setup for Decision Science and Navigation Experiments with Multiple Participants

Investigating the interactions among multiple participants is a challenge for researchers from various disciplines, including the decision sciences and spatial cognition. With a local area network and dedicated software platform, experimenters can efficiently monitor the behavior of the participants that are simultaneously immersed in a desktop virtual environment and digitalize the collected data. These capabilities allow for experimental designs in spatial cognition and navigation research that would be difficult (if not impossible) to conduct in the real world. Possible experimental variations include stress during an evacuation, cooperative and competitive search tasks, and other contextual factors that may influence emergent crowd behavior. However, such a laboratory requires maintenance and strict protocols for data collection in a controlled setting. While the external validity of laboratory studies with human participants is sometimes questioned, a number of recent papers suggest that the correspondence between real and virtual environments may be sufficient for studying social behavior in terms of trajectories, hesitations, and spatial decisions. In this article, we describe a method for conducting experiments on decision-making and navigation with up to 36 participants in a networked desktop virtual reality setup (i.e., the Decision Science Laboratory or DeSciL). This experiment protocol can be adapted and applied by other researchers in order to set up a networked desktop virtual reality laboratory.

This paper describes a method for conducting multi-user experiments on decision-making and navigation using a networked computer laboratory.

Investigating the interactions among multiple participants is a challenge for researchers from various disciplines, including the decision sciences and ...

Virtual Reality Experiments with Physiological Measures

Virtual reality (VR) experiments are increasingly employed because of their internal and external validity compared to real-world observation and laboratory experiments, respectively. VR is especially useful for geographic visualizations and investigations of spatial behavior. In spatial behavior research, VR provides a platform for studying the relationship between navigation and physiological measures (e.g., skin conductance, heart rate, blood pressure). Specifically, physiological measures allow researchers to address novel questions and constrain previous theories of spatial abilities, strategies, and performance. For example, individual differences in navigation performance may be explained by the extent to which changes in arousal mediate the effects of task difficulty. However, the complexities in the design and implementation of VR experiments can distract experimenters from their primary research goals and introduce irregularities in data collection and analysis. To address these challenges, the Experiments in Virtual Environments (EVE) framework includes standardized modules such as participant training with the control interface, data collection using questionnaires, the synchronization of physiological measurements, and data storage. EVE also provides the necessary infrastructure for data management, visualization, and evaluation. The present paper describes a protocol that employs the EVE framework to conduct navigation experiments in VR with physiological sensors. The protocol lists the steps necessary for recruiting participants, attaching the physiological sensors, administering the experiment using EVE, and assessing the collected data with EVE evaluation tools. Overall, this protocol will facilitate future research by streamlining the design and implementation of VR experiments with physiological sensors.

Virtual reality (VR) experiments can be difficult to implement and require meticulous planning. This protocol describes a method for the design and implementation of VR experiments that collect physiological data from human participants. The Experiments in Virtual Environments (EVE) framework is employed to accelerate this process.

Virtual reality (VR) experiments are increasingly employed because of their internal and external validity compared to real-world observation and ...

Developing a Virtual Reality Video Game to Simulate Rip Currents

Beachgoers in the United States face many different hazards, but rip currents are annually the deadliest for ocean swimmers. Despite the risk presented by rip currents, it is apparent that the public has a limited understanding of their danger and the proper mitigating actions to take when caught in one. A virtual reality (VR) video game placing participants in a simulated rip current was developed to help ameliorate this issue. The VR game was used to survey beachgoers on the Atlantic Coast of Long Island, New York during July and August 2019. The actions participants took when confronted with the rip current were recorded, along with whether they escaped it or drowned. An interview with each player was also conducted after they partook in the game to determine the realism of the rip current simulation and its effectiveness in demonstrating proper actions to take when impacted by one. Analysis of those results indicates that VR has potential to communicate rip current risk and ways to minimize it in a unique and engaging manner. However, further work is needed to improve ease of use of the VR simulation and better understand how factors such as demographics influence perceived rip current risk and behavioral response.

Rip currents are among the deadliest meteorological hazards in the United States. In order to demonstrate the proper actions to take when caught in a rip current in a memorable and engaging way, a virtual reality video game is developed.

Beachgoers in the United States face many different hazards, but rip currents are annually the deadliest for ocean swimmers. Despite the risk presented by ...

Environment

Evaluating Usability Aspects of a Mixed Reality Solution for Immersive Analytics in Industry 4.0 Scenarios

In medicine or industry, the analysis of high-dimensional data sets is increasingly required. However, available technical solutions are often complex to use. Therefore, new approaches like immersive analytics are welcome. Immersive analytics promise to experience high-dimensional data sets in a convenient manner for various user groups and data sets. Technically, virtual-reality devices are used to enable immersive analytics. In Industry 4.0, for example, scenarios like the identification of outliers or anomalies in high-dimensional data sets are pursued goals of immersive analytics. In this context, two important questions should be addressed for any developed technical solution on immersive analytics: First, is the technical solutions being helpful or not? Second, is the bodily experience of the technical solution positive or negative? The first question aims at the general feasibility of a technical solution, while the second one aims at the wearing comfort. Extant studies and protocols, which systematically address these questions are still rare. In this work, a study protocol is presented, which mainly investigates the usability for immersive analytics in Industry 4.0 scenarios. Specifically, the protocol is based on four pillars. First, it categorizes users based on previous experiences. Second, tasks are presented, which can be used to evaluate the feasibility of the technical solution. Third, measures are presented, which quantify the learning effect of a user. Fourth, a questionnaire&#160;evaluates the stress level when performing tasks. Based on these pillars, a technical setting was implemented that uses mixed reality smartglasses to apply the study protocol. The results of the conducted study show the applicability of the protocol on the one hand and the feasibility of immersive analytics in Industry 4.0 scenarios on the other. The presented protocol includes a discussion of discovered limitations.

This protocol delineates the technical setting of a developed mixed reality application that is used for immersive analytics. Based on this, measures are presented, which were used in a study to gain insights into usability aspects of the developed technical solution.

In medicine or industry, the analysis of high-dimensional data sets is increasingly required. However, available technical solutions are often complex to ...

Engineering

Evaluating Flight Performance and Eye Movement Patterns Using Virtual Reality Flight Simulator

Efficient and economical performance evaluation of pilots has become critical to the aviation industry. With the development of virtual reality (VR) and the combination of eye-tracking technology, solutions to meet these needs are becoming a reality. Previous studies have explored VR-based flight simulators, focusing mainly on technology validation and flight training. The current study developed a new VR flight simulator to evaluate pilots' flight performance based on eye movement and flight indicators in a 3D immersive scene. During the experiment, 46 participants were recruited: 23 professional pilots and 23 college students without flight experience. The experiment results showed significant differences in flight performance between participants with and without flight experience, the former being higher than the latter. In contrast, those with flight experience showed more structured and efficient eye-movement patterns. These results of the differentiation of flight performance demonstrate the validity of the current VR flight simulator as a flight performance assessment method. The different eye-movement patterns with flight experience provide the basis for future flight selection. However, this VR-based flight simulator has shortcomings like motion feedback compared to traditional flight simulators. This flight simulator platform is highly flexible except for the apparent low cost. It can meet the diverse needs of researchers (e.g., measuring situation awareness, VR sickness, and workload by adding relevant scales).

A new virtual reality flight simulator was built, which enables efficient and low-cost evaluation of flight performance and eye movement patterns. It also provides a high-potential research tool for ergonomics and other research.

Efficient and economical performance evaluation of pilots has become critical to the aviation industry. With the development of virtual reality (VR) and ...

The Immersive Cleveland Clinic Virtual Reality Shopping Platform for the Assessment of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

A decline in the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) has been proposed as a prodromal marker of neurological disease. Existing clinical and performance-based IADL assessments are not feasible for integration into clinical medicine. Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful yet underutilized tool that could advance the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disease. An impediment to the adoption and scaling of VR in clinical neurology is VR-related sickness resulting from sensory inconsistencies between the visual and vestibular systems (i.e., locomotion problem).
The Cleveland Clinic Virtual Reality Shopping (CC-VRS) platform attempts to solve the locomotion problem by coupling an omnidirectional treadmill with high-resolution VR content, enabling the user to physically navigate a virtual grocery store to simulate shopping. The CC-VRS consists of Basic and Complex shopping experiences; both require walking 150 m and retrieving five items. The Complex experience has additional scenarios that increase the cognitive and motor demands of the task to better represent the continuum of activities associated with real-world shopping. The CC-VRS platform provides objective and quantitative biomechanical and cognitive outcomes related to the user&#39;s IADL performance. Initial data indicate that the CC-VRS results in minimal VR-sickness and is feasible and tolerable for older adults and patients with Parkinson&#39;s disease (PD). The considerations underlying the development, design, and hardware and software technology are reviewed, and initial models of integration into primary care and neurology are provided.

Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful yet underutilized approach to advance the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disease. The Cleveland Clinic Virtual Reality Shopping platform combines state-of-the-art VR content with an omnidirectional treadmill to quantify instrumental activities of daily living-a proposed prodromal marker of neurological disease.

A decline in the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) has been proposed as a prodromal marker of neurological disease. Existing ...

Mixed Reality for Education (MRE) Implementation and Results in Online Classes for Engineering

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many industries, empowering some sectors and causing many others to disappear. The education sector is not exempt from major changes; in some countries or cities, classes were taught 100% online for at least 1 year. However, some university careers need laboratory practices to complement learning, especially in engineering areas, and having only theoretical lessons online could affect their knowledge. For this reason, in this work, a mixed reality system called mixed reality for education (MRE) was developed to help students develop laboratory practices to complement online classes. An experiment was carried out with 30 students; 10 students did not use MRE, 10 used MRE, and 10 more used MRE with teacher feedback. With this, one can see the advantages of mixed reality in the education sector. The results show that using MRE helps to improve knowledge in engineering subjects; the students obtained qualifications with grades 10% to 20% better than those who did not use it. Above all, the results show the importance of feedback when using virtual reality systems.

Mixed Reality for Education MRE Implementation and Results in Online Classes for Engineering

In this work, a mixed reality system called MRE was developed to help students develop laboratory practices complementing online classes. An experiment was carried out with 30 students; 10 students did not use MRE, 10 used MRE, and 10 more used MRE with teacher feedback.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many industries, empowering some sectors and causing many others to disappear. The education sector is not exempt from ...

Online Explorative Study on the Learning Uses of Virtual Reality Among Early Adopters

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