Immersive Virtual Reality as a Catalyst for Replication in Psychology
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| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | The replication crisis in psychology has exposed significant methodological shortcomings in existing research, prompting a critical reassessment of widely accepted research practices. In addition to methodological reforms such as preregistration, registered reports, and other open science initiatives that aimed at enhancing transparency and reliability in psychological research, large-scale replication projects have successfully addressed crucial issues such as low statistical power of psychological studies and publication bias. However, these efforts are often constrained by substantial logistical, temporal, and financial limitations. In this context, immersive virtual reality (IVR) presents a promising solution for establishing an experimental replication framework by providing controlled yet ecologically valid environments that enhance replicability while minimizing external variability. IVR enables the standardization of experimental conditions, facilitates protocol sharing across research teams, and improves ecological validity. In this contribution, I argue that IVR supports replication initiatives by offering a reproducible and controlled framework for psychological experimentation. Nevertheless, several challenges associated with IVR must be addressed, including undesirable physiological effects such as cybersickness, individual differences in prior user experience with IVR, and, most importantly, the equivalence of cognitive processes demonstrated in IVR compared to real-world conditions. Furthermore, the technical expertise required for IVR-based studies may limit accessibility and widespread adoption. Despite these challenges, I argue that IVR represents a transformative tool for improving replication fidelity. The integration of IVR into experimental paradigms has the potential to enhance the robustness and reliability of psychological findings, thereby advancing psychological science. |
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