The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a reliable social-evaluative stressor. To overcome limitations of the in vivo TSST, a standardized virtual reality TSST (VR-TSST) was developed. The present study compares the emotional (anxiety) and physiological (heart period and variability) response to a VR-TSST with an in vivo TSST and a control condition. Participants took part in either an in vivo TSST (N = 106, 64% female), VR-TSST (N = 52, 100% female), or a control TSST (N = 20, 40% female). Mixed linear modeling examined response profile differences related to TSST type. While there was an equivalent anxiety response to the in vivo TSST as the VR-TSST, we found a smaller heart period and heart rate variability response in VR-TSST compared to the in vivo TSST, especially in response to the math part of the test. The present findings demonstrate that social evaluative stress can be successfully induced in a VR setting, producing similar emotional and slightly attenuated cardiovascular responses.

特里尔社会压力测试 (TSST) 是一种可靠的社会评估压力源。为了克服体内TSST 的局限性，开发了标准化的虚拟现实 TSST (VR-TSST)。本研究比较了 VR-TSST 与体内TSST 和对照条件的情绪（焦虑）和生理（心脏周期和变异性）反应。参与者参加了体内TSST（N  = 106，64 % 女性）、VR-TSST（N  = 52，100 % 女性）或对照 TSST（N  = 20，40% 女性）。混合线性建模检查了与 TSST 类型相关的响应曲线差异。虽然对体内有相同的焦虑反应TSST 作为 VR-TSST，我们发现与体内TSST相比，VR-TSST 中的心率周期和心率变异性响应更小，尤其是在测试的数学部分。目前的研究结果表明，可以在 VR 环境中成功诱导社会评价压力，产生类似的情绪和轻微减弱的心血管反应。