Background: Sexual deviance is regarded as an important risk factor for sexual offending. However, little is known about the development of deviant sexual interests. The transfer of arousal between emotions, i.e., excitation transfer, could attribute sexual salience to stimuli that would otherwise not be sexual in nature. As such, excitation transfer could contribute to the very beginning of unusual or deviant sexual interests. The current protocol proposes a study to investigate to what extent excitation transfer occurs, i.e., to what extent genital and subjective sexual arousal to sexual stimuli is higher in an emotional state than in a neutral state. Following a prior pilot study, several adjustments were made to the study protocol, including a stronger emotional manipulation by using 360-degree film clips and the inclusion of a larger and more sexually diverse sample. Methods: We will recruit 50 adult male volunteers with diverse sexual interests. We will induce sexual arousal in four different emotional states (aggression/dominance, endearment, fear, disgust) and a neutral state. Sexual arousal will be measured genitally using penile plethysmography and subjectively via self-report. Using paired samples t-tests, sexual arousal in the emotional states will be compared with sexual arousal in the neutral state. Discussion: We aim to show that arousal in response to emotional stimuli that are initially nonsexual in nature, can enhance sexual arousal. These findings have potentially important implications for the development of unusual and/or deviant sexual interests and possibly for the treatment of such sexual deviant interests in people who have committed sexual offenses.
Metaverse, a burgeoning technological trend that combines virtual and augmented reality, provides users with a fully digital environment where they can assume a virtual identity through a digital avatar and interact with others as they were in the real world. Its applications span diverse domains such as economy (with its entry into the cryptocurrency field), finance, social life, working environment, healthcare, real estate, and education. During the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 era, universities have rapidly adopted e-learning technologies to provide students with online access to learning content and platforms, rendering previous considerations on integrating such technologies or preparing institutional infrastructures virtually obsolete. In light of this context, the present study proposes a framework for analyzing university students' acceptance and intention to use metaverse technologies in education, drawing upon the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study aims to investigate the relationship between students' intention to use metaverse technologies in education, hereafter referred to as MetaEducation, and selected TAM constructs, including Attitude, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Self-efficacy of metaverse technologies in education, and Subjective Norm. Notably, Self-efficacy and Subjective Norm have a positive influence on Attitude and Perceived Usefulness, whereas Perceived Ease of Use does not exhibit a strong correlation with Attitude or Perceived Usefulness. The authors postulate that the weak associations between the study's constructs may be attributed to limited knowledge regarding MetaEducation and its potential benefits. Further investigation and analysis of the study's proposed model are warranted to comprehensively understand the complex dynamics involved in the acceptance and utilization of MetaEducation technologies in the realm of higher education
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The last trend in technology is the upcoming Metaverse [1]. Metaverse represents a combination of virtual and augmented technology. With this technology, users will be able to immerse into a fully digital environment by obtaining a virtual identity through a digital avatar and acting as this was the real world. They can meet other users, shop, buy real estate, visit bars and restaurants, even flirt. Metaverse can be applied in several aspects of life such as (among others): Economy (Metaverse is entering into the cryptocurrency field), finance [2], social life, working environment, healthcare, real estate [3], and education [4]. In the last 2 and a half years, during the COVID-19 pandemic, universities made immediate use of e-learning technologies, providing students with access to online learning content and platforms. Previous considerations on how to better integrate the technology to universities or how the institutions can be better prepared in terms of infrastructures were vanished almost immediately due to the necessity of immediate actions towards the need for social distance and global health [5]. The present study proposes a framework for university students’ metaverse technologies in education acceptance and intention to use. The study is based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) [6, 7]. The objectives of the study are to analyze the relationship of students’ intention to use metaverse in education technologies (hereafter named MetaEducation) in correlation with selected constructs of TAM such as: Attitude (ATT), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PE), Self-efficacy (SE) of the metaverse technologies in education, and Subjective Norm (SN). The present study develops a structural model of MetaEducation acceptance. This model will be useful to universities’ managers, policymakers and professors to better incorporate the upcoming metaverse technology. The present study tests (if supported) the correlations among the aforementioned constructs. Preliminary results show a hesitance to use MetaEducation technologies from university students. Self-efficacy and Subjective Norm affect Attitude and Perceived Usefulness positively, but on the other side, there is no strong correlation between Perceived Ease of Use and Attitude or Perceived Usefulness and Attitude. Authors believe that the weak ties among the studies constructs have to do with the lack of knowledge of what really MetaEducation really is, and which are its advantages of use.
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Can computers talk like humans? Look like humans? Behave like humans? Project Virtual Humans in the Brabant Economy (VIBE) focuses on developing and testing virtual humans to make this happen. The virtual humans developed by VIBE will be able to communicate with normal people in a natural way, both verbal and non-verbal, and deliver a valuable contribution to the training of healthcare professionals. The agents developed by VIBE can be used in any training simulation in various instances, including virtual, mixed and augmented reality.VIBE agents are designed to also allow customization for other domains to enhance training and education programs even beyond the healthcare domain.Funding:EU EFRO, Province of Noord Brabant, municipalities.
