Consumer consciousness in multisensory XReality

Abstract

Chapter 7 explores how immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (XR) shape consumer consciousness through multisensory stimulation, mental imagery, and avatar embodiment. Drawing on philosophical perspectives (e.g., Chalmers, 2022) and grounded cognition theory, the chapter argues that digital environments can elicit real, conscious experiences, particularly when sensory inputs and cognitive mechanisms converge. It highlights how mental imagery compensates for sensory gaps in digital contexts and how visual-enabling technologies (e.g., AR, 3D interfaces) enhance this process. The chapter reviews the growing role of sensory-enabling technologies (SETs), including haptics and olfaction, in enriching online experiences and enabling deeper engagement. The discussion then turns to XR’s epistemological and experiential challenges, noting that while immersive stimuli can foster presence and self-awareness, they can also produce illusions of consciousness, blur boundaries between real and virtual, and trigger identity disturbances. The embodiment of avatars, ranging from customized self-representations to idealized digital selves, further complicates consumers’ experience of self, potentially leading to both self-expansion and disconnection. Overall, the chapter underscores that XR does not merely simulate experience, it constructs new modalities of presence, meaning, and identity. For marketers, this presents both opportunities and responsibilities: crafting multisensory, meaningful engagements to support conscious, intentional consumer experiences. XR thus emerges not just as a technological shift but as a transformation in how consciousness, self, and value are enacted in digital consumption.