The influence of scent on virtual reality experiences: The role of aroma-content congruence
通过实验室实验，研究了在虚拟现实旅游体验中添加与环境一致的香气如何增强感官刺激，进而影响情感和行为反应，对服务提供商和研究者有参考价值。
We live in a multisensory world. Our experiences are constructed by the stimulation of all our senses. Nevertheless, digital interactions are mainly based on audiovisual elements, while other sensory stimuli have been less explored. Virtual reality (VR) is a sensory-enabling technology that facilitates the integration of sensory inputs to enhance multisensory digital experiences. This study analyzes how the addition of ambient scent to a VR experience affects digital pre-experiences in a service context (tourism). Results from a laboratory experiment confirmed that embodied VR devices, together with pleasant and congruent ambient scents, enhance sensory stimulation, which directly (and indirectly through ease of imagination) influence affective and behavioral reactions. These enriched multisensory experiences strengthen the link between the affective and conative images of destinations. We make recommendations for researchers and service providers with ambitions to deliver ambient scents, especially those congruent with displayed content, to enhance the sensorialization of digital VR experiences.