In recent years, interest in virtual reality (VR) has grown rapidly, thanks to advances in software and hardware, reduced costs, and increasing investments by hi-tech companies.

VR applications are expanding from entertainment to design, from healthcare to marketing.

Despite its rapid evolution, research on VR and emotions is just at the beginning.

In particular, the difference between “virtual” and “real” emotional experiences has not been systematically investigated.

This knowledge gap is a significant limitation for a successful (and safe) implementation of the Metaverse, as improving our understanding of virtual emotions, as well as their motivational and behavioral “real-life” consequences, has crucial implications in the design of VR applications.

With the emergence of the Metaverse economy, there is an increasing need to provide VR researchers and designers with theory-driven, evidence-based guidelines for creating applications that can elicit complex emotional experiences, such as aesthetic emotions, as well as assess their impact on individuals.

This research project will address these issues by:

• providing a systematic analysis of the literature concerning emotions and VR;
• carrying out three studies to investigate the emotional profile of virtual and real environments, as well as to assess the potential of “virtual” emotions to influence real-life attitudes and behaviors;
• developing recommendation and design guidelines to help VR developers to improve the efficacy of virtual experiences;
• disseminating findings to the scientific community, the public, and relevant stakeholders.