The content of mental imagery in Acrophobia: the potential of virtual reality in chartering mental imagery

Abstract

Mental imagery is a subjective experience and its antecedents and consequents are objectively observable. Mental images can be positive or negative and are often associated with emotions. One anxiety disorder in which there is little known about the content of mental imagery is acrophobia. This research aims to look at the content of the mental imagery concerning heights. First, participants will be randomly assigned to either the low-high condition or the high-low condition. Further, participants will be exposed to different height positions in a virtual reality environment, after which they have to answer questionnaires and an interview about if they experienced mental imagery, voluntarily or involuntarily and about in which modalities and from which perspectives these were experienced. A Chi-Square Test for Goodness of Fit was done to compare whether looking down from heights triggered the same mental imagery as looking up to heights on different variables. All four hypotheses, about the content, voluntariness, the sensory modalities and the vividness of the mental imagery, were rejected. It is advised to do future research with a larger, more clinical sample.