INVESTUAL | The effects of multisensory INVESTment experiences on decision making in virtUAL reality

INVESTUAL project, managed by Dr. Nannan Xi

Imagine, if a decision maker could walk inside a 3-dimensional representation of data steams (VR, stereoscopics, 360 treadmill, unreal/unity rendering) and even touch the data (haptic gloves and controllers)- i.e. use multimodal ways to interpret the investment data related to the stock, bond, funds and futures market, etc.

Summary:

Today, with the advent of immersive technologies, it has become possible to immerse decision-makers into a fully 3-dimensional, visually stereoscopic, haptic and otherwise the kind of environment that better supports the natural senses of humans; i.e. VIRTUAL REALITY (VR). In the virtual reality, a decision-maker could walk inside a 3-dimensional representation of data steams (VR, stereoscopics, 360 treadmill, unreal/unity rendering) and even touch the data (haptic gloves and controllers) – i.e. use multimodal ways to interpret the investment data related to the stock, bond, funds and futures market, etc. Thus, the objective of INVESTUAL (investment virtuality) project is to experimentally investigate how the multisensory technologies such as VR visualization, treadmill movement and haptic touch affect 1) the investor experience, 2) decision–making process, 3) decision–making quality and 4) ultimate investment success compared to traditional investment interfaces. Based on the project, several journal papers that can be published in some of the best journals in the disciplinary fields of financial science, information systems and business research. This dissemination of knowledge to the Finnish financial industry will have a large and synergic effect in the Finnish financial landscape that combines investment decisions with the strong Finnish ICT industry.