Immersive virtual and real-world environments: a study of thermal perception and adaptive behaviors across sedentary and high-intensity activity

Purpose – The potential of virtual reality (VR) to replicate real-life scenarios remains an emerging field of research. Despite the promise of VR, there are still limited studies validating immersive virtual environments (IVEs) against real environments (REs), particularly in terms of comfort and behavioral responses across varying activity intensities. The study aims to contribute by examining thermal comfort and adaptive behaviors in both REs and VEs during sedentary and high-intensity activities. Design/methodology/approach – Observations were conducted for two activity types: reading/watching and fabrication/machine work, in both the RE involving 50 participants and in IVEs with 24 participants. Between- and within-subject designs were adopted for real/Unreg. and virtual/Reg. environments, respectively. Findings – The findings revealed significant differences in thermal comfort and preferences between real and virtual environments, except for thermal sensation during sedentary activities. For high-intensity activity, significant differences were found in thermal sensation and preferences between the two environments, except for thermal comfort. Ecological validity was rated high, particularly regarding the lighting and general appearance of IVEs compared to RE. Originality/value – The study gave an insight that thermal perception partially supports criterion validity for activity intensities, i.e., fair agreement between RE and IVEs, adaptive behaviors were supported in both environments and activity intensities. Further research can be used to explore a wider range of activity intensity. Additionally, a more comprehensive validation framework can be incorporated, which encompasses thermal, visual comfort, and behavioral responses in both real and virtual environments.