Universitat de Barcelona

An experiment with subjects who feared the dark (N = 30) was carried out to validate three environments in virtual reality. The environments were created by another student. They were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions: virtual reality exposure in different environments or to a non-treatment control group. The treatment consisted of an exposure to three virtual reality environments the subjects had to go through within an hour. They had to complete a questionnaire to assess their fear of dark before and after the experiment. The experimental group also performed a behavioural test consisting of real dark exposure.

Statistically, the results of the experimental group established a significant reduction of anxiety both in the behavioural test and the questionnaire, while the score of the control group remained stable. Therefore, the effectiveness of these environments was validated.