Universität zu Köln

Bruder, Luca-René (2022). Virtual Reality as a Chance to Reconcile Ecological Validity and Experimental Control in Cue-Reactivity Research. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

High-performance virtual reality (VR) technology has opened new possibilities for the examination of the reactivity towards addiction-related cues (cue-reactivity) in addiction. We conducted two studies employing a virtual reality cue-reactivity design for participants suffering from gambling disorder (GD), that combined the assessment of subjective, physiological, and behavioral cue-reactivity. The first study aimed to examine the reliability of temporal discounting measures in VR and standard lab environments in a group of non-gambling control participants. Additionally, we aimed to explore the feasibility of applying sequential sampling models to temporal discounting data obtained in VR. The second study employed the VR design validated in the first study to investigate the subjective, behavioral, and physiological effects of VR gambling environment exposure in a group of regular gamblers (GD group) and matched non-gambling controls. Overall, the results obtained by both studies presented in this dissertation project revealed further evidence for the validity of temporal discounting and the two-step task as possible diagnostic markers of GD. We demonstrated high reliability of the temporal discounting task and reproduced established group differences in decision-making between participants suffering from GD and non-gambling controls in both behavioral tasks. Additionally, we showed that behavioral data obtained by both tasks in VR can be meaningfully interpreted with comprehensive computational modelling, especially with models including RTs such as the drift-diffusion model. In the context of cue-reactivity we found mixed results. While our design was effective in eliciting subjective craving in participants suffering from GD, we observed little evidence for behavioral or sympathetic physiological cue-reactivity.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Bruder, Luca-René Bruder UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-557179
Date:	2022
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Subjects:	Psychology General statistics Life sciences
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Virtual Reality English Cognitive Modelling English Drift-Diffusion Model English
Date of oral exam:	11 February 2022
Referee:	Name Academic Title Peters, Jan Prof. Dr. Kaspar, Kai Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/55717