Assessing inhibitory control in the real world is virtually possible: A virtual reality demonstration
The paper examines the use of virtual reality (VR) to assess inhibitory control, an executive function involved in regulating automatic responses, attention and behavior.
The authors develop 3D adaptations of the Simon and flanker tasks in a virtual classroom, replacing conventional 2D stimuli with human-like avatars and realistic movements.
The experiments compare these versions with their traditional 2D counterparts using reaction times and accuracy as measures.
In the Simon task, conducted with 36 participants, both 2D and 3D versions reproduced the expected interference effects, showing that incongruent stimuli produced longer response times.
In the flanker task, involving 46 participants, the 3D version likewise reproduced the classical interference pattern, with incongruent conditions generating longer latencies and more errors.
The findings indicate that both VR adaptations can capture key indicators of inhibitory control while providing a more naturalistic setting.
The authors position these experiments as an initial step toward assessing inhibitory skills in closer-to-real-life situations.
They highlight potential applications for studying how social and contextual factors—including the number and distance of virtual characters—may influence executive functions, while acknowledging that further research and standardization are needed before VR can become a broadly established tool for psychometric assessment.
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