October 21, 2026
Joshua Cain, Micah Alan Johnson, Amirvala Tavakoli et al.
preprint
Sustained contemplative practice confers well-documented psychological and physiological benefits, yet the experiential deepening that motivates practitioners can require many hours of practice, and mastery is not assured. Methods that accelerate training would broaden access to these benefits and could also test mechanism: the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), caudate, and anterior insula are...
PLOS mental health
March 12, 2025
Ninette Simonian, Micah Alan Johnson, Caitlin Lynch et al.
The MindGym, a novel immersive technology utilizing a reflective chamber environment, was developed to create standardized experiential content, including anxiolytic experiences. This study examined whether therapeutic experiences originally created in the MindGym could maintain their efficacy when delivered via 360-degree recordings through virtual reality (VR) headsets. A randomized...
Scientific Reports
October 26, 2024
Micah Alan Johnson, Ninette Simonian, Nicco Reggente
6 citations
In this randomized, controlled, and double-blind experiment with a relatively large sample (n = 262), a novel technique of audiovisual stimulation (AVS) was demonstrated to substantially improve self-reported mood states by reducing several negative affects, including anxiety and depression, and enhancing performance on mood-sensitive cognitive tasks. Most of the AVS effects were highly similar...
bioRxiv
September 19, 2024
Ninette Simonian, Micah Alan Johnson, Caitlin Lynch et al.
preprint
The MindGym, a novel immersive technology utilizing a reflective chamber environment, was developed to create standardized experiential content, including anxiolytic experiences. This study examined whether therapeutic experiences originally created in the MindGym could maintain their efficacy when delivered via 360-degree recordings through virtual reality (VR) headsets. A randomized...