Stress Augmentation with Immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Technologies (SAIVAR-Tech)

Objective/Hypothesis: The overall objective of the proposed research is to determine stress reducing capabilities of commercially available VR and AR technologies, and as a means of promoting stress resilience. There are three working hypotheses proposed for this project: 1) Participants using game technologies will demonstrate stress reduction and improve stress resilience. 2) Participants using iVR will demonstrate greater improvements in stress resilience greater stress reduction following game training compared to participants receiving VR training. 3) Participants using AR will demonstrate greater improvements in terms of reduced stress and stress resilience compared to participants receiving iVR. Specific Aims: This project has six specific aims: 1) determine if VR technology reduces stress immediately following play; 2) determine if 8 hours of VR game training improves stress resilience; 3) determine if iVR technology reduces stress immediately following play; 4) determine if 8 hours of iVR game training improves stress resilience; 5) determine if AR technology reduces stress immediately following play; 5) determine if 8 hours of AR game training improves stress resilience.