Data-Driven Discovery of Predictors of Virtual Reality Safety and Sense of Presence for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

Virtual reality (VR) offers children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) an inexpensive and motivating medium to learn and practice skills in a personalized, controlled, and safe setting; however, outcomes of VR interventions can vary widely. In particular, there is a need to understand the predictors of VR experience in children with ASD to inform the design of these interventions. To address this gap, a sample of children with ASD (n=35, mean age: 13.0 +/- 2.6 years; 10 female) participated in a pilot study involving an immersive VR experience delivered through a head-mounted display. A data-driven approach was used to discover predictors of VR safety and sense of presence among a range of demographic and phenotypic user characteristics. Our results suggest that IQ may be a key predictor of VR sense of presence and that anxiety may modify the association between IQ and sense of presence. In particular, in low-anxiety participants, IQ was linearly related to experienced spatial presence and engagement, whereas, in high-anxiety participants, this association followed a quadratic form. The results of this pilot study, when replicated in larger samples, will inform the design of future studies on VR interventions for children with ASD.