Thesis Description & Objectives
xtended Reality (XR) technologies are opening new frontiers for the study of human cognition, emotion, and social behavior by enabling immersive, controllable, and interactive environments. Despite their strong potential, XR systems are still underutilized in psychological research, which traditionally relies on less dynamic and less ecologically valid experimental settings. As a result, fundamental questions about how immersive experiences shape mental processes, perception, and behavior remain only partially explored.
This thesis aims to investigate how XR can be used as a tool to study and influence human experience, focusing on the role of adaptive and embodied virtual agents, immersive environments, and psychologically-driven interventions. In particular, the work will explore three complementary research directions: (i) the impact of virtual agent embodiment on user engagement, social presence, and self-disclosure; (ii) the use of eye-tracking data to analyze attentional patterns and predict perceived immersivity; and (iii) the effects of cyber-hypnosis and immersive suggestion techniques on arousal and subjective experience.
The student will design and implement XR experimental scenarios integrating virtual agents, interactive environments, and adaptive mechanisms driven by multimodal data. Behavioral and physiological signals (such as gaze, interaction patterns, and biosignals) will be used to personalize the experience in real time. User studies will be conducted to evaluate the impact of different experimental conditions, combining objective measures with subjective assessments of presence, engagement, emotional response, and perceived immersion. The work will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Florence (UniFi), Department of Psychology, ensuring interdisciplinary integration between technological development and psychological research.
The expected outcome of this research is a deeper understanding of how immersive technologies influence human experience and behavior. The findings are expected to contribute to both methodological advancements in XR-based psychological research and practical guidelines for designing immersive systems in domains such as training, therapy, and human-centered applications. More broadly, the thesis will help establish XR as a systematic and reliable tool for investigating psychological and social processes in controlled yet ecologically valid environments.
References:
Bosta, A., Vosinakis, S. (2026). Assessing the Immersive Experience with Physiological Measures: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Michael-Grigoriou, D., Zachmann, G., Kopper, R., Yoon, S.H., Zollmann, S., Bourdot, P. (eds) Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality. EuroXR 2025. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 16101. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-03805-0_10
