Virtual reality offers the opportunity to recreate different social interaction scenarios and study them under controlled and strictly repeatable conditions.

In collaboration with the Institute of Psychology, Lehrstuhl für Gesundheitspsychologie und Angewandte Diagnostik, a simulation was developed to investigate the psychological effects of so-called phubbing.

The test person is confronted with a virtual person who looks at their cell phone several times during the conversation and thus appears to be visibly distracted or ignores the test person. The conversation is controlled by the investigator with the help of predefined answers.