Virtual Reality

Work with VR technologies began only a few years ago. VR is surprisingly fun as it allows to actually build physical stuff.

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  EREdWeB: Enriched Reality for Education and Digital Well-Being

  Virtual Reality

  One of the first projects of the "European University of Well-being" (EuniWell). This project explores the potential of state-of-the-art virtual reality technology for teaching, aiming at digital well-being. It will bring about groundbreaking research on the relation between virtual reality and education, namely regarding its cognitive, physiological, educational and social aspects.

  Details

  Partners: University of Florence (IT, leader), University of Birmingham (UK), Linnaeus University (SE), University of Leiden (NL), University of Nantes (FR)
  Funding: EuniWell
  Beginning: 202O-07-01
  End: 2021-06-30
  
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  EXTENT: Executive Functions Testing in VR with Embodied Cognition

  VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  Joint program between Hanyang University, University of Nantes, Nantes University Hospital, and Hanyang University Hospital to design, built, and test embodied cognition-based franco-korean VR environments for testing executive functions. 7 Korean students spent 6 months in Nantes, and 7 VR environments were built to assess several executive disfunctions. The project continued with a postdoctoral contract to further develop and test 3 environments.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, CHU Nantes, Hanyang University, Hanyang University Hospital
  Funding: IITP (Korea), West Creative Industry (France)
  Cofunding: PHC STAR (French/Korean),
  Beginning: 2019-09-01
  End: 2021-06-30
  

  Related publications

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  • Jieun Han, Gyu Hyun Kwon, Roman Malo, Yannick Prié, and Zied Kefi (Ed). (2023) Future Immersive Healthcare Experience in Medical and Home Setting in Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences Workshops (IMXw '23), Nantes, France, June doi Show abstract The rising accessibility of immersive media technologies opens the opportunity to use them easily in in-hospital and home environments for healthcare. The possibility to completely immerse users or patients in virtual environments, or to augment their surroundings, while tracking their movements and physiological reactions, provide new ways to induce or analyze user experiences. In the healthcare context, immersive media give new opportunities for diagnosis through the study of patient behaviors in controlled environments, as well as rehabilitation, by enabling patients to train in specific and personalized controlled tasks. In an at-home context, immersive media give opportunities to monitor and train mental and physical skills in order to improve users’ health and/or well-being. Care IMX is a half-day workshop of the IMX 2023 Conference, bringing together interdisciplinary medical, technological and social science researchers.
  • Nicolas Ribeiro, Toinon Vigier, Jieun Han, Gyu Hyun Kwon, Hojin Choi, Samuel Bulteau, Yannick Prié. (2024) Three Virtual Reality Environments for the Assessment of Executive Functioning Using Performance Scores and Kinematics: an Embodied and Ecological Approach to Cognition in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 27(2), 127-134. doi Show abstract Virtual reality is an attractive technology for cognitive assessment because it provides a more embodied experience than typical test situations using, for example, paper and pencil. In addition, virtual reality can immerse individuals in complex situations similar to real-life situations, thereby improving the ecological validity (i.e., face validity) of the assessment. Virtual reality can also provide improved scoring of tests as it facilitates the tracking of kinematic information and the temporal tracking of activities. This study assesses the correlation between scores on executive function assessments using standard neuropsychological tasks in paper-and-pencil format, on a tablet, and in three immersive virtual reality environments, each designed to involve specific aspects of executive function. This study also aims to assess the correlation between these performance scores and a set of kinematic measures (speed, duration, distance of the hand) collected in virtual reality. The outcomes (performance score and kinematic measure) correlate with previous assessment methods (paper and pencil and computerised 2D) and with each other, suggesting their potential usefulness in clinical and research contexts. The discussion focuses on the advantages of embodied, situated and spatialised tests for cognitive assessment and the benefits of kinematic tracking in virtual reality tests for the quality of this assessment.

  Additional comments

  Korean IITP funding: “Development of VR and IoT-based Systems for Evaluation of Embodied Cognition”: 7 Korean interns come in France for 6 months

  PHC (Programme Hubert Curien) STAR funding “EXTENT” Korea <> France travels

  Additional illustrations

  
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  HOMERIC: Hybridization of methOds for Modeling ExpeRIenCe in interactive systems

  Affordances Experience analysis and modelling VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  Our goal is to propose concepts, methods, and models for the study of user experience in virtual reality. We explore an hybrid approach that associates qualitative and quantitative methods, particularly first and third person methods. Our applicative aim is to build an affordance-based VR environment for elicitating several Rdoc dimensions associated to depression.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, Sphere
  Funding: RFI Ouest Industries Créatives
  Cofunding: Université de Nantes
  Beginning: 2018-10-01
  End: 2019-12-31
  

  Related publications

  • Roman Malo, Yannick Prié. (2023) L’entretien d’explicitation comme outil d’investigation des processus psychiques en contexte expérimental : l’exemple de la flexibilité psychologique in Expliciter - Hors-série 1 - Actes du colloque Pierre Vermersch, pp 197-212 Show abstract Le travail que nous présentons ici est au croisement de la psychologie clinique et des sciences cognitives, dont l’enjeu est de proposer une investigation centrée subjectivité d’un processus psychologique. Il s’agit de souligner l’importance de l’expérience vécue explicitée pour affiner la compréhension des processus psychologiques, en prenant ici comme exemple la notion de flexibilité psychologique. Nous décrivons d’abord le “retour” du phénoménologique dans les modèles en psychologie actuelle dans un bref aperçu théorique, puis nous présentons des résultats du projet HOMERIC qui enrichissent notre compréhension du processus complexe qu’est la flexibilité en nous appuyant sur l’entretien d’explicitation comme outil mobilisé dans l’étude d’une situation expérimentale.
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  IDEA: Immersive Data Exploration and Analysis

  Data Visualization Immersive Analytics Virtual Reality

  IDEA explores immersive analytics by proposing original representations, interaction modalities, and evaluations means. It focuses on multi-dimensional data and HMD-based virtual representations. This project has led to several prototypes, it now includes the PhD thesis of Adrien Fonnet.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, Readi Design Lab
  Funding: West Creative Industry cluster
  Cofunding: University of Nantes / Ministry of Higher Education and Research
  Beginning: 2016-10-01
  End: 2020-08-31
  

  Related publications

  • Adrien Fonnet, Toinon Vigier, Grégoire Cliquet, Fabien Picarougne, Yannick Prié. (2018) Axes and Coordinate Systems Representations for Immersive Analytics of Multi-Dimensional Data in 4th International Symposium on Big Data Visual and Immersive Analytics BDVA 2018, Konstanz, Germany, October 2018 doi Show abstract Axes are the main components of coordinate systems representations. They play a critical role for the visual analysis of multi-dimensional data. However their representation seems to have always be considered self evident, with oriented lines crossing at an origin, completed with labels such as ticks and names. Such classical representation show limits when it comes 3D visualization and immersive analytic (IA), mainly because orthogonal projection of points on linear axes is hard in a 3d environment, and because the user can move therefore the axes can get out of his field of view. In this paper we propose a task-based definition of axes and coordinate systems representation, as well as a tentative design space for coordinates systems representation in immersion. We also present an exploratory user study we carried out to compare three grid-based representations of coordinate systems for multidimensional data analysis with 3D scatterplots.
  • Adrien Fonnet, Florian Melki, Yannick Prié, Fabien Picarougne, Grégoire Cliquet. (2018) Immersive Data Exploration and Analysis in Student Interaction Design Research conference, May 2018, Helsinki, Finland. Show abstract This paper belongs to the emerging immersive analytics research field. It presents a system for exploratory analysis of multi-dimensional data focusing on providing freedom of locomotion while remaining comfortable for long user session. The solution allows to investigate temporal traces through a 3D scatterplot using a cylindrical coordinate system. Users are free to move inside the tracked area either standing up or seated in a mobile chair. A limited user study (n=6) has been conducted to investigate if the designed solution was deemed appropriate for mobility and user comfort.
  • Grégoire Cliquet, Matthieu Perreira, Fabien Picarougne, Yannick Prié, Toinon Vigier. (2017) Towards HMD-based Immersive Analytics in Immersive analytics Workshop, IEEE VIS 2017, Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Show abstract Advances in 3D hardware and software have led to increasingly cheaper and simple-to-use immersive virtual reality systems that can provide real-time interactive 3D data representation. The immersive analytics field is developing as the newest avatar of 3D visual analyt- ics, which may relaunch the long enduring 2D vs 3D visualization debate. However, the terms of the debate have changed: leveraging 3D human perception within virtual environments is now easier, and the immersive quality of today’s rendering is sufficient enough for researchers to concentrate on testing and designing immersive data representation and interaction rather than on technological problems. In this position paper we propose a short historical perspective on the use of immersive technologies for visual analytics and on the 2D vs 3D debate. We stress out five principles that we think should be followed to explore the HMD-based visual analytics design space, before introducing ongoing work within the IDEA project.

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  OPEVA: OutPatient Experience in Virtual Reality for Architectural Design

  Patient Experience Experience analysis and modelling Virtual Reality

  A project where we compared the experiences of patients in VR and in reality. We designed and implemented a virtual reality environment replicating an actual ambulatory pathway. We used elicitation interviews to collect the experiences of actual patients in both our virtual prototype and the ambulatory pathway, that we modeled and compared. Results show that patients live comparable experiences along various dimensions of experience such as thought, emotion, sensation, social and sensory perception.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, AIA Life Designer, Clinique Jules Verne
  Funding: West Creative Industry (France)
  Beginning: 2021-11-01
  End: 2022-08-31
  

  Related publications

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  PROMETEA: OutPatient Experience in Virtual Reality for Architectural Design

  VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  A collaboration within Nantes University with clinical psychologists to design an build an ecological VR environment dedicated to prospective memory testing. The system will be evaluated in 2024.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, LPPL, MIP
  Funding: ELIT Cluster
  Beginning: 2023-04-01
  End:
  
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  Revistim-X: Virtual Reality and Brain Stimulation: an experiential approach

  Experience analysis and modelling VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  This was the first feasability and acceptability study of the association of cerebral stimulation and virtual reality for treatment in psychotherapy. We designed and built an environment related to acrophobia, and analyzed patients' experiences using mixed methods. The project continues with the development of the EVEREST VR environment.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, Sphere, IAC 18
  Funding: Université de Nantes
  Cofunding: CHU Nantes, Fondations Université de Nantes, Fondation CHU Nantes
  Beginning: 2017-10-01
  End: 2018-09-31
  

  Related publications

  • Toinon Vigier, Yannick Prié, Florian Melki, Matthieu Perreira Da Silva, Fabien Picarougne, Samuel Bulteau, Olivier Charlet. (2018) New VR Experiences for the Personalization of Care in Psychiatry: the Example of ReViSTIM Project in Care TVX Workshop at ACM TVX 2018, June 2018, Seoul, South Korea. doi Show abstract This paper presents a new VR platform in hospital environment for the study of mental diseases. The Revistim platform consists in several hardware devices and software tools for the immersion of subjects, the collection of various subjective, physiological and behavioral data as well as the use of new psychotherapeutic systems. The platform is used both for research in neuro-psychiatry (diagnosis, rehabilitation and treatment) and user experience modeling. Considering care, the main objective is to propose personalized care in psychiatry through the assessment of the patient state, the priorisation of targeted interventions, and an efficient evaluation of the VR therapy on the different dimensions of the disease.
  • Samuel Bulteau, Andrew Laurin, Kalyane Bach-Ngohou, Morgane Péré, Marie-Anne Vibet, Jean-Benoit Hardouin, Véronique Sebille, Lydie Lagalice, Élodie Faurel-Paul, Didier Acier, Thomas Rabeyron, Valéry-Pierre Riche, Anne Sauvaget, Florian Melki, Toinon Vigier, Matthieu Perreira Da Silva, Olivier Charlet, Yannick Prié. (2022) Feasibility of combining transcranial direct current stimulation and full embodied virtual reality for visual height intolerance: a double-blind randomized controlled study in Journal of Clinical Medecine 2022, 11(2), 345; doi Show abstract Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) may be used to reduce anxiety in visual height intolerance (vHI). Objective/Hypothesis: Our study aims to in-vestigate the feasibility of the association between wireless tDCS and full embodied 360° VRET to reduce anxiety in vHI. Methods: We carried out a randomized, double-blind, controlled study to associate VRET with tDCS by targeting the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in 28 participants. Primary outcomes were the sense of presence level and the tolerability. Secondary outcomes were the anxiety severity and the salivary cortisol concentration. Results: We confirmed the feasibility of the association tDCS+VRET with a good sense of presence without severe adverse effect. tDCS was not superior to sham to reduce anxiety. We observed in two groups a significant reduction of anxiety after stimulations but a significant increase in anxiety at each level of difficulty. Cortisol concentration significantly decreased in the sham group but remained stable in the tDCS group. Conclusion: Our study confirms the feasibility of the association between wireless tDCS and full embodied VRET with a validated environment to induce anxiety. Effects of VRET seem to be stronger than tDCS effects.

  Additional comments

  Revistim-X clinical trial recording.

  Additional illustrations

  
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  Revistim-xX: Virtual Reality and Brain Stimulation: an experiential approach

  Experience analysis and modelling VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  This second study on the association of cerebral stimulation and virtual reality for treatment in psychotherapy deals with rumination, a dimension of depression. In this study we collect data with questionnaires, EEG, eye-tracking, and micro-phenomenology.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, Sphere, IAC 18
  Funding: partly funded by RFI Atlanstic 2020
  Cofunding:
  Beginning: 2018-03-01
  End: 2019-09-31
  

  Additional comments

  The “zen” virtual reality environment we use is designed by Healhty Mind

  Revistim-xX clinical trial recording.
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  TECNIS: Immersive Teleclinic

  Patient Experience Trace-based Activity Analysis Trace-based Systems VR and Psychotherapy Virtual Reality

  Designing and evaluating patients' journeys in a virtual teleclinic to carry out series of neuropsychological tests with practitioners.

  Details

  Partners: LS2N, CHU Nantes, BioSerenity
  Funding: Plan de relance.
  Cofunding:
  Beginning: 2022-09-01
  End: 2024-08-31
  

Select another theme:    Accessibility Affordances Data Visualization Digital Instruments Document Engineering Experience analysis and modelling Hypervideos Immersive Analytics Interpretation Systems Knowledge Engineering Learning Analytics Patient Experience Progressive analytics Reflective Systems Technology-Enhanced Learning Trace-based Activity Analysis Trace-based Systems VR and Psychotherapy Video Annotations Virtual Reality