The effect of immersive virtual reality‐based attentional bias modification on anxiety mitigation in healthy population

Abstract The present study compared an immersive virtual reality‐based attentional bias modification (immersive VR‐ABM) with the desktop version of the VR‐ABM and an immersive virtual reality‐based game (immersive VR‐game) to examine the possible effect of the immersive presence on self‐reported emotional reactions to a stressful task. One hundred and twenty participants were randomly assigned into three groups, and each group received a three‐turn induction–intervention training. Anxiety symptoms were assessed at pre‐induction, post‐induction, and post‐training. Results showed that virtual reality‐based anxiety was induced and alleviated successfully in all three groups, but only the immersive VR‐ABM group showed an accumulated effect on self‐reported anxiety across sessions. The attentional bias based on probe latencies indicated no significant change in either the immersive or desktop VR‐ABM groups. The present findings support the hypothesized VR‐ABM's effect on self‐reported anxiety at the immersive presence. The practical implications of using immersive VR‐ABM are discussed for obtaining ecological validity.