Walk the Plank! Using mobile EEG to investigate emotional lateralization of immersive fear in virtual reality

1.Most studies on emotion processing rely on the presentation of emotional images or films. However, this methodology lacks ecological validity, limiting the extent to which findings can generalize to emotion processing in the wild. More realistic paradigms using Virtual Reality (VR) may be better suited to investigate authentic emotional states and their neuronal correlates. This preregistered study examines the neuronal underpinnings of naturalistic fear, measured using mobile electroencephalography (EEG). Seventy-five healthy participants entered a simulation in which they walked across a virtual plank which extended from the side of a skyscraper - either 80 stories up (the negative condition) or at street level (the neutral condition). Subjective ratings showed that the negative condition induced feelings of fear and presence. Following the VR experience, subjects passively viewed negative and neutral images from the International Affective Picture system (IAPS) outside of VR. We compared frontal alpha asymmetry between the plank and IAPS task and across valence of the conditions. Asymmetry indices (AI) in the plank task revealed greater right-hemispheric lateralization during the negative VR condition, relative to the neutral VR condition and to IAPS viewing. Within the IAPS task, no significant asymmetries were detected, though AIs in the VR task and in the IAPS task were negatively correlated suggesting that stronger right-hemispheric activation in the VR task was associated with stronger left-hemispheric activation during the IAPS task. In summary, our findings indicate that immersive technologies such as VR can advance emotion research by providing more ecologically valid ways to induce emotion.