2023-06-06 09:45:36
Science
Photo by Zuzana Ľudviková
‘I’m stuttering through the assignment’
Photo by Zuzana Ľudviková
Much scientific research cannot do without testing on humans. But what kinds of experiments are being carried out at the uni and what is it like to participate in them? UKrant volunteers as a guinea pig. Episode 5: A Virtual Stress Test.
By Rene Hoogschagen
June 6 at 9:41 am.
Last modified on June 6, 2023
at 9:42 am.
By René Hoogschagen
June 6 at 9:41 AM.
Last modified on juni 6, 2023
at 9:42 AM.
PhD student Mathijs Nijland’s virtual reality experiment is of the alienating kind. You think all the time: am I okay here?
The experiment will take place at three locations. One real and two virtual. The real one is a small one-person office in the psychiatric ward of the UMCG, where Mathijs puts me behind a desk with a view of the greenery of the Petrus Campersingel.
There are four screens in front of me, of which I only use one: for the questionnaires that I have to fill in on the spot. Questions about if I sweat, if I feel my heart beating, and if I feel tense. At the same time I hold a firm cotton roll in my mouth that sucks up my saliva. Mathijs also hands me five stickers with a thread on them. I stick it obediently on my chest and stomach, on which Mathijs attaches two more electrodes to my fingers.
Waiting room
Then the real work begins. I get a thick VR unit on my head and immediately end up in spot number two: a waiting room of a crematorium, it seems. Through large windows I can see grassland on lower ground, here and there is a magazine, and there are still a few rows of bucket seats and a coffee table. A huge TV screen hangs in front of me. When I look at it, a character actor immediately starts to talk about nature in the new Markerwaard Islands with a carried voice.
Then a virtual gentleman appears, who calmly explains that I have to wait twenty minutes. He points to an analog clock on the wall and a counting down digital clock on the table in front of me. I look around for a while, but there is not much more to do than watching the documentary. I can’t reach the magazines and I can’t see my phone.
I try to keep my attention on the screen. It’s about the grebe. The bluethroat comes into view. I see an insect emerge. But all the time I think: am I in the right place here? Did I accidentally meet the wrong researcher? What are they going to test? Do I realize that time is secretly jumping? How often do I look at the clock? What am I doing here?
New variant
The experiment is known as the Trier Social Stress Test and is normally performed live, with real people, Mathijs explains later. What I do is the new, fully digital variant, which was developed in collaboration with the Center for Information Technology of the University of Groningen.
That is not only practical, because you don’t need actors, it is also cheaper, says Mathijs. “You need a small room, glasses and two computers and not much else.” But more importantly: ‘The circumstances are always the same.’ So the results are quite comparable.
Twenty excruciatingly slow minutes and a series of animal species later, the VR helmet can finally be taken off. I get another questionnaire and a new wad to drool on. The screen asks if I’m nervous. No, I’m bored, but I can’t fill that in. I’m surprised the photographer hasn’t worn off yet. “It’s getting interesting now,” she grins.
Presentation
I am allowed to go to another virtual room and have five minutes to come up with a five-minute presentation about my dream job in front of two people and a camera that records everything.
I rack my brain about what my dream job actually is. I actually really like what I’m doing now. Just before time runs out, I come up with something. While a man occasionally drums on the table and a woman looks bored at her nails, I stutter through the assignment.
This is still the neutral form, Mathijs explains later. ‘There is also one that is really unpleasant. People then look angry and they also say stupid things to you: “This makes no sense.”’ But there is also a positive version, as a control variant. Then those bored people and the camera are not there, the conversation is about vacation and there is an easy addition.
Cortisol
Unfortunately I can’t get that easy test. I have to count down from 1022 to 0, in steps of 13. My stress level shoots up with the word math, I suspect. After what feels like a minute, I’ve only figured out the first step. I see myself taking the table test again, last in the class, and I feel like a huge loser.
That my stress level has peaked will not only be apparent from the questionnaire I fill out again, but also from the cortisol in my saliva (hence the cotton rolls) and from the measurements of my heart rhythm and the sweat on my fingers. After the questionnaire I ‘may’ go back to the waiting room. Halfway through the documentary starts again.
The glasses become heavy, so do my eyelids, the character actor continues to talk calmly about the dragonfly, the spoonbill and the seagull. It’s beautiful footage, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely not a Marvel movie. But yes, that is also the intention, according to Mathijs, excitement distorts the measurement data.
resilience
Coping well with stress starts with the realization that you are stressful, says Mathijs. ‘For you to notice: oh yes, I’m squeezing with my hands. By not doing that anymore, you already become less stressed.’ But a breathing technique can also help, such as taking a few deep breaths in and out, he says.
The Bounce Back research group – led by Catheleine van Driel – conducts research into stress and improving ‘stress resistance’. And this VR test can help with that, is the idea. ‘Exposing people to a stressful environment allows them to learn how to deal with it, but it also provides insight into how their stress response develops in the first place,’ explains Mathijs.
Finally, I have to wait another twenty minutes. The reduction of the stress peak takes about forty minutes, says Mathijs. But my cortisol level has long since reached bedtime.
- Faculty: Medical Sciences
- Duration: 1.5 hours
- Reward: None
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