Measuring Altered States of Consciousness in Virtual Reality: A Systematic Analysis of Assessment Methods
HCI International 2025 – Late Breaking Papers January 1, 2026 Maria Laura Mele, Hans Rutrecht
A review of literature from 2014 to 2024 examines how virtual reality can induce, modulate, and assess altered states of consciousness. Four methodological fields are analyzed: clinical and therapeutic research, cognitive science and neurophysiology, immersive technology and human-computer interaction, and psychological and phenomenological evaluation. VR-mediated altered states can be systematically evaluated through multimodal techniques, but the review reveals significant methodological inconsistencies, including a lack of standardization in experimental designs, variability in measurement tools, and limited interdisciplinary integration. The authors call for a standardized methodological framework to enable replicable assessment of VR-induced altered states.