Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality Content Type to Mindfulness and Physiological Parameters

Seulki Min, Jung Geun Moon, Chul Hyun Cho, Gerard J. Kim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has been applied as a complimentary way to conventional treatment for mental disorders successfully. On the other hand, it has not been clearly shown what type of immersive media such as VR can directly affect one's physiological parameters, associated with the state of mindfulness. We sought to assess how being subjected to differently designed VR contents can affect and modulate one's anxiety both psychologically and more importantly physiologically. We empirically tested the comparative effects of two polarizing VR content types to this effect: (1) "calm/soothing"content and (2) "disturbing". Twenty-five adults participated and their mental state, anxiety level and physiological signals were measured before and after experiencing the respective VR content type. The experiment found a statistically significant effect of the content type to the changes in these measures and confirmed that the "calm"content was helpful for one to self-regulate to lower heart rate and blood pressure, stable GSR, and the "disturbing"content in the opposite way. We applied this result to calm down and stabilize vital signs of patients during actual coronary angiography and catheterization operations. We were able to observe the same effect with positive comments from the patients and operating team.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - VRST 2020
Subtitle of host publicationACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
EditorsStephen N. Spencer
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450376198
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020 Nov 1
Event26th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, VRST 2020 - Virtual, Online, Canada
Duration: 2020 Nov 12020 Nov 4

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, VRST

Conference

Conference26th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, VRST 2020
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVirtual, Online
Period20/11/120/11/4

Keywords

  • Blood Pressure
  • Galvanic Skin Response (Skin Conductance)
  • Haptic feedback
  • Heart Rate
  • Nervous System
  • Virtual Reality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software

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