Awe is a multifaceted emotion often associated with the perception of vastness, that challenges existing mental frameworks. Despite its growing relevance in affective computing and psychological research, awe remains difficult to elicit and measure. This raises the research questions of how awe can be effectively elicited, which factors are associated with the experience of awe, and whether it can reliably be measured using biosensors. For this study, we designed 10 immersive Virtual Reality (VR) scenes with dynamic transitions from narrow to vast environments. These scenes were used to explore how awe relates to environmental features (abstract, human-made, nature), personality traits, and country of origin. We collected skin conductance, respiration, self-reported awe and presence data from participants from Germany, Japan, and Jordan. Our results indicate that self-reported awe varies significantly across countries and scene types. In particular, a scene depicting outer space elicited the strongest awe. Scenes that elicited high selfreported awe also induced a stronger sense of presence. However, we found no evidence that awe ratings are correlated with physiological responses. These findings challenge the assumption that awe is reliably reflected in autonomic arousal and underscore the importance of cultural and perceptual context. Our study offers new insights into how immersive VR can be designed to elicit awe, and suggests that subjective reports - rather than physiological signals - remain the most consistent indicators of emotional impact.

Awe is a complex emotion described as a perception of vastness and a need for accommodation to integrate new, overwhelming experiences. Virtual Reality (VR) has recently gained attention as a convenient means to facilitate experiences of awe. In VR, a first-person perspective might increase awe due to its immersive nature, while a third-person perspective might enhance the perception of vastness. However, the impact of VR perspectives on experiencing awe has not been thoroughly examined. We created two types of VR scenes: one with elements designed to induce high awe, such as a snowy mountain, and a low awe scene without such elements. We compared first-person and third-person perspectives in each scene. Forty-two participants explored the VR scenes, with their physiological responses captured by electrocardiogram (ECG) and face tracking (FT). Subsequently, participants self-reported their experience of awe (AWE-S) and presence (IPQ) within VR. The results revealed that the first-person perspective induced stronger feelings of awe and presence than the third-person perspective. The findings of this study provide useful guidelines for designing VR content that enhances emotional experiences.