Effects of Social Presence and Perception in Virtual Reality on Pain

This experiment aims to examine the effects of transportation via social presence in \"near\" and \"far\" virtual environments, on pain threshold in two groups: 1. healthy volunteers in an induced pain task, and 2. older adults suffering from pain. In the first, pilot group, a within-subjects study, participants will complete a series of induced-pain heat ramps in virtual environments that are \"near\" or \"far\"-in other words, they will either duplicate their actual physical environment, or represent another location. A second factor in this experiment will be mediated social presence, in which participants interact with confederates as avatars in either condition. The hypotheses follow: H1: Participants who feel present in a remote location will have a higher pain tolerance than those in a near location. H2: Participants who feel socially present with a confederate will have a higher pain tolerance than those who are alone in a virtual environment. H3: There will be an interaction between social presence and virtual environment such that participants who feel socially present in a remote location will have the highest pain tolerance overall. Building on these results,the next step will be a long-term study on older adult pain patients. In this step, the most successful condition in the first study to lightweight, portable headsets that can be used outside of the lab environment. This intervention will be tested on older adult patients who are suffering from chronic pain.