Anxiety and depression have been growing global mental health problems. The following studies explored the effect of interactive VR scenarios to find a low-cost and high-efficiency solution. Study 1 designed a 2 (anxiety and depression state) ×4 (interactive VR scenarios) experiment, the results of 20 participants showed that the designed scenarios had good restoration and presence, assisting to improve depression mood for people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression. Study 2 further investigated the intervention effects of two environment types (urban and park) and four interactive activities (automatic viewing, free-roaming, fishing, and watering plants in the park environment), based on data from a 10-minute experiment conducted by 195 participants with mild to moderate anxiety and depression. The subjective scales, EEG and EMG, and scenario experience were analyzed and the results showed that: (1) the restorative and present VR scenarios were beneficial in alleviating state anxiety and depression; (2) the restorative environment and presence were significantly and positively related to the reduction of anxiety and depression respectively, moreover, presence mediated the restorative environment on the recovery from anxiety and depression; (3) the environmental settings, the complexity of interaction, human factors, and maturity of VR devices and technology were also key factors that influenced the effects of interactive VR scenario experience and intervention. These studies revealed VR psychological intervention scenarios could be designed with comprehensive factors. Moreover, they might help pave the way for future study in exploring the physiology and psychology mode in virtual and real spaces, enhancing intervention effectiveness.

This study, based on the theory of complex therapeutic environments, uses virtual reality (VR) technology to construct interactive restorative environments and discusses the influence of the experience of virtual restorative environment on individual creativity. A total of 72 college students were selected as participants in the study. Through psychological scales, three creativity tests, and EEG feedback data, the following conclusions were drawn:(1) The VR restorative environment experience improves individual creativity, especially the creative quality of cohesion; (2) the experience of the VR restorative environment enables participants to experience a desirable sense of presence. Compared with the restorative scene experience without interactive activities, the addition of interactive activities improves the individual sensory fidelity to a greater extent. (3) We cannot simply assume that the experience of the VR restorative environment with interactive activities will make individual creative performance better than non-interactive experience. Interaction with certain difficulty will increase cognitive load, thus disrupting individual creative performance. Garden scenes that can be explored freely and have no interaction can better promote individual creativity. (4) In the environmental experience, participants paid greater attention to natural elements, and the restorative environment they described was very similar to the environment they believed could foster creativity. This study’s results provide evidence for the positive effects of the VR restorative environment experience on individuals and contributes to the cognitive exploration of the interaction between restorative environments and individuals in the future.