Restoration in a virtual reality forest environment

Mattila, Osmo; Korhonen, Arto; Pöyry, Essi; Hauru, Kaisa; Holopainen, Jani; Parvinen, Petri

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106295

Cited by 133 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The virtual environment with natural landscapes has the characteristics of immersion and provides a presence effect [ 57 , 58 , 59 ]. The patients with GAD could experience more enjoyment and become more relaxed in such an environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological and Physiological Responses in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The Use of Acute Exercise and Virtual Reality Environment

Wang

Sit

Tang

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Virtual exercise therapy is considered a useful method by which to encourage patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) to engage in aerobic exercise in order to reduce stress. This study was intended to explore the psychological and physiological responses of patients with GAD after cycling in a virtual environment containing natural images. Seventy-seven participants with GAD were recruited in the present study and randomly assigned to a virtual nature (VN) or a virtual abstract painting (VAP) group. Their electroencephalogram alpha activity, perceived stress, and levels of restorative quality and satisfaction were assessed at baseline and after an acute bout of 20 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. The results showed that both the VN and VAP groups showed significantly higher alpha activity post-exercise as compared to pre-exercise. The VN group relative to the VAP group exhibited higher levels of stress-relief, restorative quality, and personal satisfaction. These findings imply that a virtual exercise environment is an effective way to induce a relaxing effect in patients with GAD. However, they exhibited more positive psychological responses when exercising in such an environment with natural landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological and Physiological Responses in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The Use of Acute Exercise and Virtual Reality Environment

Wang

Sit

Tang

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…The proposed system required Google Cardboard to get the virtual reality feature broadly along with an android smartphone as the system designed with android based mobile application. Head-mounted display and headphones is used in [3] for surfing around a restorative virtual forest where 100 participants were tested by using the application for 5 min to evaluate the their mood after and before experiencing the virtual environment and participants found more engaging, appealing, relax and calm after the VR experience. The tourism experience enriched by the combination of reality and virtual reality in world famous Disneyland and Futuroscope using head mounted display and large screens according to [4] where the work was discussed about enhancing the travel experience by creating virtual amusement park and theme park.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

VR Chiriyakhana: A Virtual Zoo Using Google Cardboard

Ahmed

Hossain

2020

SN COMPUT. SCI.

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The application of virtual reality in entertainment and education industry is growing rapidly day by day. The proposed method offers a new experience for animal lovers and zoo visitors by gaining a new experience of surfing at the virtual zoo using the Google cardboard. Additionally, the study provides informative view to the students and creates possibilities for unable people to visit zoo virtually which delivers 3D computer generated animal objects with virtual surroundings using animations and videos from the real environment which includes vocal expression and scientific description of different animals available in traditional zoos of Bangladesh. An android-based mobile application developed using unity platform which consist of eight different animals with their different activity. The major findings of the study, virtual zoo provides the visiting opportunity regardless of seasonal weather and pandemic situation. AR based zoo helps the visitors to watch the animals more precisely and more interesting way by getting 360 video of the animals. The proposed method supports the early age students to know the physical view of different animals and their scientific name which benefits to identify different animals in real life situation. Qualitative feedback collected from the 25 participants who had experience visiting the traditional zoo where participants showed positive attitude in experiencing virtual zoo. The findings from the participants' feedback, the implication of proposed system creates impressive contribution in education and entertainment industry.

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“…Although virtual nature is unable to fully reproduce the effects of real nature [51][52][53][54], such as boosting immune functions due to exposure to phytoncides, immersive virtual nature (IVN) technologies could contribute to improve the physiological well-being of people that do not have direct access to nature [55,56], albeit only with short-term effects. Such approach could be useful for people whose contact with real nature is impeded or hazardous, such as individuals affected by physical disabilities, physiological and mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety and psychosis, and inpatients [57].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during Covid-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Value

Zabini¹,

Albanese²,

Becheri³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The prolonged lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many people from direct contact with nature and greenspaces, raising alarms for a possible worsening of mental health. This study investigates the effectiveness of a simple and affordable remedy for improving psychological well-being, based on audio-visual stimuli brought by a short computer video showing forest environments, with an urban video as a control. Randomly selected participants were assigned the forest or urban video, to look at and listen early in the morning, and filled questionnaires. In particular, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) Form Y, collected in baseline condition and at the end of the study, and the Part II of the Sheehan Patient Rated Anxiety Scale (SPRAS), collected every day immediately before and after watching the video. The virtual exposure to forest environments showed effective to reduce perceived anxiety levels in in people forced by lockdown in limited spaces and environmental deprivation. Although significant, the effects were observed only in the short term, highlighting the limitation of the virtual experiences. The reported effects might also represent a benchmark to disentangle the determinants of health effects due to real forest experiences, for example, the inhalation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC).

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Restoration in a virtual reality forest environment

Cited by 133 publications

References 37 publications

Psychological and Physiological Responses in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The Use of Acute Exercise and Virtual Reality Environment

Psychological and Physiological Responses in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The Use of Acute Exercise and Virtual Reality Environment

VR Chiriyakhana: A Virtual Zoo Using Google Cardboard

Comparative Study of the Restorative Effects of Forest and Urban Videos during Covid-19 Lockdown: Intrinsic and Benchmark Value

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