# Virtual Reality for Emotion Elicitation -- A Review

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.04461 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.04461/

## Key facts

- Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 31 Oct 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Affective Behaviour Analysis via Integrating Multi-Modal Knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10825/) (2024)
- [Affective Game Computing: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.14104/) (2023)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Affective Computing; Challenges, Trends, Applications, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.07665/) (2023)
- [EmojiHeroVR: A Study on Facial Expression Recognition under Partial Occlusion from Head-Mounted Displays](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03331/) (2024)
- [EEGUnity: Open-Source Tool in Facilitating Unified EEG Datasets Towards Large-Scale EEG Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07196/) (2024)
- [VRMN-bD: A Multi-modal Natural Behavior Dataset of Immersive Human Fear Responses in VR Stand-up Interactive Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.12133/) (2024)
- [EmoSpace: Immersive Affective Image Generation Guided by Fine-Grained Emotion Prototypes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.11658/) (2026)
- [Exploring Emotions in Multi-componential Space using Interactive VR Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03239/) (2024)
- [Unimodal and Multimodal Static Facial Expression Recognition for Virtual Reality Users with EmoHeVRDB](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11306/) (2024)
- [CAST-Phys: Contactless Affective States Through Physiological signals Database](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06080/) (2025)
- [MVRS: The Multimodal Virtual Reality Stimuli-based Emotion Recognition Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.05330/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Emotions are multifaceted phenomena that affect our behaviour, perception, and cognition. Increasing evidence indicates that induction mechanisms play a crucial role in triggering emotions by simulating the sensations required for an experimental design. Over the years, many reviews have evaluated a passive elicitation mechanism where the user is an observer, ignoring the importance of self-relevance in emotional experience. So, in response to the gap in the literature, this study intends to explore the possibility of using Virtual Reality (VR) as an active mechanism for emotion induction. Furthermore, for the success and quality of research settings, VR must select the appropriate material to effectively evoke emotions. Therefore, in the present review, we evaluated to what extent VR visual and audio-visual stimuli, games, and tasks, and 360-degree panoramas and videos can elicit emotions based on the current literature. Further, we present public datasets generated by VR and emotion-sensing interfaces that can be used in VR based research. The conclusions of this survey reveal that VR has a great potential to evoke emotions effectively and naturally by generating motivational and empathy mechanisms which makes it an ecologically valid paradigm to study emotions.