Abstract. In the modern world, two trends coexist in relation to a visual image – the complication of modern forms of visual exploration of the world due to new technologies and a simplified and trusting attitude towards their use. The first trend, requiring multimodal and multisensory perception, enhances the suggestive properties of images and thereby the role of the “optical unconscious”. All this makes the problem of visual control in the exploration of the world very relevant. The purpose of this work is to consider the peculiarities of visual research, to clarify the interpretation of the concepts of “visual image” and “immersive environments” in them. Methods of comparative and structural-functional analysis are used. Keywords: visual studies, visual image, immersive environments, media