Can We Touch the Real in Virtual Reality? An Empirical Study of Multisensory Interaction

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has become a powerful medium for learning, design, and play, yet the illusion of reality often ends where the sense of touch disappears. While vision and sound can simulate presence, the absence of tactile feedback limits how real virtual objects can feel. This work presents a controlled experiment design that examines how glove-based haptic feedback influences multisensory experience. Participants engage with three instruments representing pressing, plucking, and patting actions across three environments: a physical baseline, VR without haptics, and VR with glove-based haptic feedback. The study applies validated measures including NASA-TLX, Affect Grid, GAMEX, Sensory Perception Item (SPI) set, Attitude to Play Music, Intention to Use, and the Video Game Demand Scale (VGDS). We isolate how tactile realism relates to workload, affect, engagement, and memory in multisensory virtual environments. The framework provides a reproducible method for examining how touch changes not only what users do in VR but how real those actions feel.