Comparison of psychedelic mixed reality experiences - an explorative study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate various psychedelic virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences and compare perceived psychedelic effects they produced. A total of 24 participants (N=24) were exposed to 12 different experiences, including three VR, eight AR, and one baseline (AR) experience. Following each encounter, participants responded to a brief custom-made questionnaire assessing both psychedelic and affective dimensions of the experience. Mixed measures ANOVA revealed that six experiences, comprising three VR and three AR, exhibited significant differences from the baseline measure in terms of psychedelic effects. While VR experiences generally yielded higher results than AR experiences, not all of them differ significantly from three higher scoring AR experiences. SAM affective dimensions correlated significantly with overall psychedelic effect, correlation was weak to medium.