Reactions to Emotional Stimuli in Virtual Reality: The Role of Task-Relevance in Behavioral and Physiological Correlates

Scientific-Disciplinary Group

05/BIOS-06 - Physiology

Description

How humans react to emotional stimuli remains a highly debated issue. According to thedominant motivational model, emotional stimuli automatically trigger fixed responses regardless ofan individual’s goals. However, studies from Prof. Mirabella’s laboratory have shown that, in healthy individuals, emotions influence motor behavior only when they are relevant to the ongoing task. Amajor limitation of previous studies is that they relied on static images, which poorly reproduce reallifesocial interactions. The present project will extend these paradigms to immersive virtual realityenvironments, in which emotional stimuli will be conveyed by dynamic, contextually embeddedavatars, thereby greatly increasing ecological validity and realism. If the principle of task-relevance isalso confirmed in these more naturalistic settings, the findings may lead to a substantial revision ofcurrent theories of how emotional stimuli shape human behavior

Job posting website

https://www.unibs.it/it/ateneo/amministrazione/concorsi/bandi-il-conferimento-di-incarichi-di-ricerca

Number of positions

1

Funding body

Università degli studi di Brescia

Selection process