Effect of VR experience on creative thinking and understanding others

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K14158
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 10020:Educational psychology-related
• Research Institution: National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (2021-2023); Kyoto University (2020)
• Principal Investigator: Ichimura Kenshiro 独立行政法人大学改革支援・学位授与機構, 研究開発部, 准教授 (50824926)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: バーチャルリアリティー / 創造性 / 拡散的思考 / 物語体験 / 演劇体験 / 他者理解能力 / マインドリーディング / 没入感

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project involved two studies: Study 1, which examined the effects of a VR space on creative thinking, and Study 2, which examined the effects of an immersive experience in a VR narrative on the ability to understand others.
In Study 1, two experiments examined the effects of manipulating the viewing medium and the VR space on a divergent thinking task. The results suggest that viewing images of a broad coast on a head-mounted display improves performance on a divergent thinking task.
Study 2 was newly accepted as a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(c) in the fiscal year previous to the final year of the research project. We are currently working on an advanced research plan to verify the effects on the ability to understand others, including the experience of acting out a performance using VR.

Free Research Field

心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

研究1については，これまで実空間で示されていた創造的思考を促進する環境の知見が，没入感の高いVR空間においても再現されることを示した点で学術的意義を持つ。今後より精密な要因操作に基づく検証を重ねることで，創造的活動に適したVR環境の構築などの社会的意義が期待される。
研究2については，先行研究では質問紙で測定される物語への没入と他者理解能力の相関関係が示されていたが，VRを用いて没入感を操作することで，物語への没入が他者理解能力を高めるという因果関係を明らかにできるという学術的意義を持つ。また，演劇が他者理解能力を高めるという，演劇体験の新たな価値の発見という社会的意義が期待される。