Slide
Centre Interdisciplinaire
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
de Recherche et d’Innovation
en Cybersécurité et Société
1.
Jesus, B. De; Lopes, M.; Perreault, L.; Roberge, M. -C.; Oliveira, A. A. De; Falk, T. H.
In: Conf. Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Syst. Man Cybern., pp. 6033–6038, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025, ISBN: 1062922X (ISSN); 979-833153358-8 (ISBN), (Journal Abbreviation: Conf. Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Syst. Man Cybern.).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Biomedical signal processing, Diseases, Electroencephalography, electroencephalography (EEG), Electrophysiology, Haptics, Immersive, Immersive virtual reality, Multisensory, Nature immersion, Odors, Olfactory, Patient monitoring, Patient treatment, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic stress disorder, virtual reality, virtual reality (VR)
@inproceedings{dejesusElectroencephalographyNeuromarkersPredict2025,
title = {Electroencephalography Neuromarkers to Predict the Response of a Multisensory Virtual Reality Nature Immersion Intervention for Patients Diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder},
author = {B. De Jesus and M. Lopes and L. Perreault and M. -C. Roberge and A. A. De Oliveira and T. H. Falk},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105033154892?origin=resultslist},
doi = {10.1109/SMC58881.2025.11342787},
isbn = {1062922X (ISSN); 979-833153358-8 (ISBN)},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-01-01},
booktitle = {Conf. Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Syst. Man Cybern.},
pages = {6033–6038},
publisher = {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.},
abstract = {Immersive virtual reality (VR) applications rapidly expand across domains, including training, gaming, and healthcare. More recently, multisensory immersive experiences, including olfactory and haptic stimulation, have emerged and shown great promise, especially for interventions in well-being and mental health management. Multisensory experiences, however, are very subjective (e.g., one subject may like certain smells, while others do not), and recent results have suggested that some participants may not respond positively to the treatment. As multisensory VR interventions can be costly and time-consuming for both patients and clinicians, being able to find neuromarkers that predict intervention outcomes would be invaluable. Here, we aim to take the first steps in the development of a neuromarker to predict the response to a multisensory nature immersion VR intervention. A pilot experiment was performed with twenty patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Potential neuromarkers are extracted from electroencephalography (EEG) signals measured from an instrumented VR headset. We show that some EEG patterns start to differ between responders and non-responders as early as the fourth session, i.e., one-third of the way into the entire intervention. This suggests that neuromarkers to predict the outcomes of a multisensory VR immersion intervention may exist. These markers could be used not only to save time and resources for clinicians and patients but also to promote precision treatment where interventions are adjusted to each patient, maximizing success rates. © 2025 IEEE.},
note = {Journal Abbreviation: Conf. Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Syst. Man Cybern.},
keywords = {Biomedical signal processing, Diseases, Electroencephalography, electroencephalography (EEG), Electrophysiology, Haptics, Immersive, Immersive virtual reality, Multisensory, Nature immersion, Odors, Olfactory, Patient monitoring, Patient treatment, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic stress disorder, virtual reality, virtual reality (VR)},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Immersive virtual reality (VR) applications rapidly expand across domains, including training, gaming, and healthcare. More recently, multisensory immersive experiences, including olfactory and haptic stimulation, have emerged and shown great promise, especially for interventions in well-being and mental health management. Multisensory experiences, however, are very subjective (e.g., one subject may like certain smells, while others do not), and recent results have suggested that some participants may not respond positively to the treatment. As multisensory VR interventions can be costly and time-consuming for both patients and clinicians, being able to find neuromarkers that predict intervention outcomes would be invaluable. Here, we aim to take the first steps in the development of a neuromarker to predict the response to a multisensory nature immersion VR intervention. A pilot experiment was performed with twenty patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Potential neuromarkers are extracted from electroencephalography (EEG) signals measured from an instrumented VR headset. We show that some EEG patterns start to differ between responders and non-responders as early as the fourth session, i.e., one-third of the way into the entire intervention. This suggests that neuromarkers to predict the outcomes of a multisensory VR immersion intervention may exist. These markers could be used not only to save time and resources for clinicians and patients but also to promote precision treatment where interventions are adjusted to each patient, maximizing success rates. © 2025 IEEE.
2.
Baus, O.; Bouchard, S.; Nolet, K.
Exposure to a pleasant odour may increase the sense of reality, but not the sense of presence or realism Journal Article
In: Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 38, no. 12, pp. 1369–1378, 2019, ISSN: 0144929X (ISSN), (Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: adult, Ambient air, apple, article, cinnamon, female, follow up, Fruits, human, human experiment, human tissue, male, nonhuman, odor, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, urine, virtual reality, Visual scene
@article{baus_exposure_2019,
title = {Exposure to a pleasant odour may increase the sense of reality, but not the sense of presence or realism},
author = {O. Baus and S. Bouchard and K. Nolet},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062948876&doi=10.1080%2f0144929X.2019.1590458&partnerID=40&md5=b9a2badea1774db4c07a5d9b256614d3},
doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2019.1590458},
issn = {0144929X (ISSN)},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
journal = {Behaviour and Information Technology},
volume = {38},
number = {12},
pages = {1369–1378},
publisher = {Taylor and Francis Ltd.},
abstract = {Smell can increase the sense of presence, reality, and realism when exposed in a virtual environment. This effect has been found to be increased when the nature of the odour is concordant visually with the scene, i.e. exposure to an unpleasant odour in a filthy virtual kitchen. The objective of this project was to verify whether this effect could be generalised to pleasant odours. Participants were immersed in a virtual apartment with a kitchen where the visual scene suggested that cinnamon apple pies had recently been baked. Participants were randomly and blindly assigned to three conditions: exposition to the ambient air, to a pleasant odour of cinnamon apple pie, or an unpleasant odour of urine. The results indicated that while exposure to the visually concordant pleasant odour did increase the sense of reality in a statistically significant manner, it did not affect the sense of presence or realism. Results also suggested that the visual/olfactory concordance may have facilitated the detection of the pleasant odour. The potential implications of the results, potential explanations for the lack of effect on the sense of presence, as well as potential follow-up research projects are discussed. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.},
note = {Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.},
keywords = {adult, Ambient air, apple, article, cinnamon, female, follow up, Fruits, human, human experiment, human tissue, male, nonhuman, odor, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, urine, virtual reality, Visual scene},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Smell can increase the sense of presence, reality, and realism when exposed in a virtual environment. This effect has been found to be increased when the nature of the odour is concordant visually with the scene, i.e. exposure to an unpleasant odour in a filthy virtual kitchen. The objective of this project was to verify whether this effect could be generalised to pleasant odours. Participants were immersed in a virtual apartment with a kitchen where the visual scene suggested that cinnamon apple pies had recently been baked. Participants were randomly and blindly assigned to three conditions: exposition to the ambient air, to a pleasant odour of cinnamon apple pie, or an unpleasant odour of urine. The results indicated that while exposure to the visually concordant pleasant odour did increase the sense of reality in a statistically significant manner, it did not affect the sense of presence or realism. Results also suggested that the visual/olfactory concordance may have facilitated the detection of the pleasant odour. The potential implications of the results, potential explanations for the lack of effect on the sense of presence, as well as potential follow-up research projects are discussed. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
3.
Baus, O.; Bouchard, S.; Nolet, K.
Exposure to a pleasant odour may increase the sense of reality, but not the sense of presence or realism Journal Article
In: Behaviour and Information Technology, vol. 38, no. 12, pp. 1369–1378, 2019, ISSN: 0144929X (ISSN).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: adult, Ambient air, apple, article, cinnamon, female, follow up, Fruits, human, human experiment, human tissue, male, nonhuman, odor, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, urine, virtual reality, Visual scene
@article{bausExposurePleasantOdour2019,
title = {Exposure to a pleasant odour may increase the sense of reality, but not the sense of presence or realism},
author = {O. Baus and S. Bouchard and K. Nolet},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062948876&doi=10.1080%2f0144929X.2019.1590458&partnerID=40&md5=b9a2badea1774db4c07a5d9b256614d3},
doi = {10.1080/0144929X.2019.1590458},
issn = {0144929X (ISSN)},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
journal = {Behaviour and Information Technology},
volume = {38},
number = {12},
pages = {1369–1378},
publisher = {Taylor and Francis Ltd.},
abstract = {Smell can increase the sense of presence, reality, and realism when exposed in a virtual environment. This effect has been found to be increased when the nature of the odour is concordant visually with the scene, i.e. exposure to an unpleasant odour in a filthy virtual kitchen. The objective of this project was to verify whether this effect could be generalised to pleasant odours. Participants were immersed in a virtual apartment with a kitchen where the visual scene suggested that cinnamon apple pies had recently been baked. Participants were randomly and blindly assigned to three conditions: exposition to the ambient air, to a pleasant odour of cinnamon apple pie, or an unpleasant odour of urine. The results indicated that while exposure to the visually concordant pleasant odour did increase the sense of reality in a statistically significant manner, it did not affect the sense of presence or realism. Results also suggested that the visual/olfactory concordance may have facilitated the detection of the pleasant odour. The potential implications of the results, potential explanations for the lack of effect on the sense of presence, as well as potential follow-up research projects are discussed. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.},
keywords = {adult, Ambient air, apple, article, cinnamon, female, follow up, Fruits, human, human experiment, human tissue, male, nonhuman, odor, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, urine, virtual reality, Visual scene},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Smell can increase the sense of presence, reality, and realism when exposed in a virtual environment. This effect has been found to be increased when the nature of the odour is concordant visually with the scene, i.e. exposure to an unpleasant odour in a filthy virtual kitchen. The objective of this project was to verify whether this effect could be generalised to pleasant odours. Participants were immersed in a virtual apartment with a kitchen where the visual scene suggested that cinnamon apple pies had recently been baked. Participants were randomly and blindly assigned to three conditions: exposition to the ambient air, to a pleasant odour of cinnamon apple pie, or an unpleasant odour of urine. The results indicated that while exposure to the visually concordant pleasant odour did increase the sense of reality in a statistically significant manner, it did not affect the sense of presence or realism. Results also suggested that the visual/olfactory concordance may have facilitated the detection of the pleasant odour. The potential implications of the results, potential explanations for the lack of effect on the sense of presence, as well as potential follow-up research projects are discussed. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
4.
Baus, O.; Bouchard, S.
Exposure to an unpleasant odour increases the sense of Presence in virtual reality Journal Article
In: Virtual Reality, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 59–74, 2017, ISSN: 13594338 (ISSN), (Publisher: Springer London).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Detection rates, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Olfactory cues, Potential exposure, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, Software engineering, virtual reality
@article{baus_exposure_2017,
title = {Exposure to an unpleasant odour increases the sense of Presence in virtual reality},
author = {O. Baus and S. Bouchard},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85020673524&doi=10.1007%2fs10055-016-0299-3&partnerID=40&md5=1395285889286214de4d258031f4d9f5},
doi = {10.1007/s10055-016-0299-3},
issn = {13594338 (ISSN)},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
journal = {Virtual Reality},
volume = {21},
number = {2},
pages = {59–74},
publisher = {Springer London},
abstract = {While olfactory cues affect the everyday human experience in the physical world, few studies have empirically examined the effect they could have on the human experience in virtual reality (VR). This project’s goal was to determine whether the exposure to olfactory stimuli would affect the senses of Presence (primary measure), Reality and Realism (exploratory measures) in VR. In a virtual kitchen devoid of obvious visual cues linking the visual scene to an odour, three groups of 20 randomly assigned participants (12 females and 8 males per group), unaware of the potential exposure to olfactory stimuli, were exposed to either ambient air, a pleasant odour, or an unpleasant odour. The results reveal that the unpleasant odour had a statistically significant effect on the sense of Presence (as measured by repeated brief measures of Presence and the Independent Television Commission Sense of Presence Inventory), but the pleasant one did not. The lower perceived intensity of the pleasant odour may have contributed to its lower detection rate which, in turn, may have contributed to the pleasant odour’s lack of effect on the sense of Presence. Neither of the olfactory stimuli had an effect on either the sense of Reality or the sense of Realism. © 2016, Springer-Verlag London.},
note = {Publisher: Springer London},
keywords = {Detection rates, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Olfactory cues, Potential exposure, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, Software engineering, virtual reality},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While olfactory cues affect the everyday human experience in the physical world, few studies have empirically examined the effect they could have on the human experience in virtual reality (VR). This project’s goal was to determine whether the exposure to olfactory stimuli would affect the senses of Presence (primary measure), Reality and Realism (exploratory measures) in VR. In a virtual kitchen devoid of obvious visual cues linking the visual scene to an odour, three groups of 20 randomly assigned participants (12 females and 8 males per group), unaware of the potential exposure to olfactory stimuli, were exposed to either ambient air, a pleasant odour, or an unpleasant odour. The results reveal that the unpleasant odour had a statistically significant effect on the sense of Presence (as measured by repeated brief measures of Presence and the Independent Television Commission Sense of Presence Inventory), but the pleasant one did not. The lower perceived intensity of the pleasant odour may have contributed to its lower detection rate which, in turn, may have contributed to the pleasant odour’s lack of effect on the sense of Presence. Neither of the olfactory stimuli had an effect on either the sense of Reality or the sense of Realism. © 2016, Springer-Verlag London.
5.
Baus, O.; Bouchard, S.
Exposure to an unpleasant odour increases the sense of Presence in virtual reality Journal Article
In: Virtual Reality, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 59–74, 2017, ISSN: 13594338 (ISSN).
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Detection rates, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Olfactory cues, Potential exposure, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, Software engineering, virtual reality
@article{bausExposureUnpleasantOdour2017,
title = {Exposure to an unpleasant odour increases the sense of Presence in virtual reality},
author = {O. Baus and S. Bouchard},
url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85020673524&doi=10.1007%2fs10055-016-0299-3&partnerID=40&md5=1395285889286214de4d258031f4d9f5},
doi = {10.1007/s10055-016-0299-3},
issn = {13594338 (ISSN)},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
journal = {Virtual Reality},
volume = {21},
number = {2},
pages = {59–74},
publisher = {Springer London},
abstract = {While olfactory cues affect the everyday human experience in the physical world, few studies have empirically examined the effect they could have on the human experience in virtual reality (VR). This project’s goal was to determine whether the exposure to olfactory stimuli would affect the senses of Presence (primary measure), Reality and Realism (exploratory measures) in VR. In a virtual kitchen devoid of obvious visual cues linking the visual scene to an odour, three groups of 20 randomly assigned participants (12 females and 8 males per group), unaware of the potential exposure to olfactory stimuli, were exposed to either ambient air, a pleasant odour, or an unpleasant odour. The results reveal that the unpleasant odour had a statistically significant effect on the sense of Presence (as measured by repeated brief measures of Presence and the Independent Television Commission Sense of Presence Inventory), but the pleasant one did not. The lower perceived intensity of the pleasant odour may have contributed to its lower detection rate which, in turn, may have contributed to the pleasant odour’s lack of effect on the sense of Presence. Neither of the olfactory stimuli had an effect on either the sense of Reality or the sense of Realism. © 2016, Springer-Verlag London.},
keywords = {Detection rates, Odors, Odours, Olfaction, Olfactory cues, Potential exposure, Presence, Realism, Reality, Sense of presences, Software engineering, virtual reality},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
While olfactory cues affect the everyday human experience in the physical world, few studies have empirically examined the effect they could have on the human experience in virtual reality (VR). This project’s goal was to determine whether the exposure to olfactory stimuli would affect the senses of Presence (primary measure), Reality and Realism (exploratory measures) in VR. In a virtual kitchen devoid of obvious visual cues linking the visual scene to an odour, three groups of 20 randomly assigned participants (12 females and 8 males per group), unaware of the potential exposure to olfactory stimuli, were exposed to either ambient air, a pleasant odour, or an unpleasant odour. The results reveal that the unpleasant odour had a statistically significant effect on the sense of Presence (as measured by repeated brief measures of Presence and the Independent Television Commission Sense of Presence Inventory), but the pleasant one did not. The lower perceived intensity of the pleasant odour may have contributed to its lower detection rate which, in turn, may have contributed to the pleasant odour’s lack of effect on the sense of Presence. Neither of the olfactory stimuli had an effect on either the sense of Reality or the sense of Realism. © 2016, Springer-Verlag London.