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Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has shown the positive effects of exposure to real and virtual nature. To investigate how such benefits might generalize to ever-more-prevalent virtual workplaces, we examined the effects of the absence or presence of virtual plants in an office environment in Virtual Reality (VR) on users' cognitive performance and psychological well-being. The results of our user study with 39 participants show that in the presence of virtual plants, participants performed significantly better in both short-term memory and creativity tasks. Furthermore, they reported higher psychological well-being scores, including positive affect and attentive coping, whilst reporting lower feelings of anger and aggression after exposure to virtual plants in VR. The virtual office with plants was also perceived as more restorative and induced a higher sense of presence. Overall, these results highlight how the presence of virtual plants in VR can have positive influences on users, and therefore, constitute important design considerations when developing future working and learning spaces.

SUBMITTER: Mostajeran F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10191408 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality.

Mostajeran Fariba F Steinicke Frank F Reinhart Sarah S Stuerzlinger Wolfgang W Riecke Bernhard E BE Kühn Simone S

Scientific reports 20230517 1

Previous research has shown the positive effects of exposure to real and virtual nature. To investigate how such benefits might generalize to ever-more-prevalent virtual workplaces, we examined the effects of the absence or presence of virtual plants in an office environment in Virtual Reality (VR) on users' cognitive performance and psychological well-being. The results of our user study with 39 participants show that in the presence of virtual plants, participants performed significantly bette ...[more]

PMID: 37198210

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Project description:Background/objectivesCancer patients often experience psychological and physical symptoms that can significantly impact their quality of life and treatment outcomes. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising complementary approach to standard cancer care. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of VR research in oncology, it seems essential to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge in this field. Therefore, this umbrella review aimed to synthesize evidence from all relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses on VR-based interventions for improving psychological and physical well-being among cancer patients.MethodsA comprehensive search was conducted in four databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, Web of Science, PsycInfo) from inception to August 2023. We included systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses that evaluated the effects of VR-based interventions on any health-related outcomes in cancer patients. The methodological quality of included reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews) tool.ResultsEighteen individual systematic reviews including ten performed meta-analyses were included, with sample sizes ranging from 225 to 842 participants. VR-based interventions were categorized into three main types: distraction, rehabilitation, and education. The interventions varied significantly in terms of content, equipment, setting, and duration. The most frequent use of VR is one-off exposure in hospital settings to distract patients from anticancer treatment and painful procedures, with natural or game-based content. The mechanism most commonly proposed to explain the effectiveness of VR involves attentional redirection.ConclusionsThis umbrella review suggests that VR-based interventions may be effective in improving psychological outcomes in cancer patients, particularly anxiety, pain, and depression. However, high heterogeneity across studies and mixed results for some outcomes indicate a need for further high-quality research. Moreover, a more refined analysis of VR-based interventions is essential to explore the specific mechanisms of action associated with each type. This approach would enable us to establish the optimal characteristics of each intervention and their long-term effects.

Project description:Aphasia is a highly disabling acquired language disorder generally caused by a left-lateralized brain damage. Even if traditional therapies have been shown to induce an adequate clinical improvement, a large percentage of patients are left with some degree of language impairments. Therefore, new approaches to common speech therapies are urgently needed in order to maximize the recovery from aphasia. The recent application of virtual reality (VR) to aphasia rehabilitation has already evidenced its usefulness in promoting a more pragmatically oriented treatment than conventional therapies (CT). In the present study, thirty-six chronic persons with aphasia (PWA) were randomly assigned to two groups. The VR group underwent conversational therapy during VR everyday life setting observation, while the control group was trained in a conventional setting without VR support. All patients were extensively tested through a neuropsychological battery which included not only measures for language skills and communication efficacy but also self-esteem and quality of life questionnairies. All patients were trained through a conversational approach by a speech therapist twice a week for six months (total 48 sessions). After the treatment, no significant differences among groups were found in the different measures. However, the amount of improvement in the different areas was distributed over far more cognitive and psychological aspects in the VR group than in the control group. Indeed, the within-group comparisons showed a significant enhancement in different language tasks (i.e., oral comprehension, repetition, and written language) only in the VR group. Significant gains, after the treatment, were also found, in the VR group, in different psychological dimensions (i.e., self-esteem and emotional and mood state). Given the importance of these aspects for aphasia recovery, we believe that our results add to previous evidence which points to the ecological validity and feasibility of VR treatment for language recovery and psychosocial well-being.

Dataset Information

Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality.

Publications

Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality.

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