Frontiers in Virtual Reality
March 22, 2021
Jeremy Viczko, Jeff Tarrant, Ray Jackson
23 citations
A brief augmented reality (AR) meditation experience, with or without integrated neurofeedback, reduced negative mood and increased positive mood in participants with moderate anxiety or depression. Both versions of the open heart meditation AR experience produced comparable improvements in self-reported mood and resting-state EEG activity, with some trending differences in brain activity consistent with loving-kindness meditations. Engagement was favorable for both groups, and higher engagement was reported when neurofeedback was added. The findings offer early support for AR-integrated meditations as a tool for self-regulating mood and emotion.
Frontiers in Virtual Reality
January 29, 2024
David R. Glowacki
11 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) and psychedelic drug experiences (YDEs) dissolve ordinary spatio-temporal distinctions and foster a sense of unity, while also reducing death-related anxiety. Virtual reality experiences (VREs) designed with a 'numadelic' aesthetic—representing bodies as light energy rather than material objects—can produce psychometric results comparable to YDEs. This article traces the numadelic aesthetic's origins to NDE phenomenology and explains its effects through a theoretical framework grounded in predictive coding and physics. A two-axis schematic distinguishes typical VREs (high structural specificity and symbolic rigidity, which limit imaginative possibility) from numadelic aesthetics (low on both axes, which open a high-entropy space for endogenous insight). This framework accounts for prior experimental findings and suggests tests for modeling NDEs to address death anxiety.
Frontiers in Virtual Reality
September 29, 2025
Parya Khandan, Benjamin Ennemoser, Ryan D. Foster et al.
A virtual reality simulation of a near-death experience significantly reduced death anxiety and stress in 61 adults who experienced a first-person immersive VR scenario. Participants were randomly assigned to either a narrated or non-narrated version, and both groups showed similar reductions in death anxiety and stress from before to after the intervention. The findings suggest that VR can serve as a scalable tool for psychological interventions, helping people confront mortality-related fears and potentially fostering behavioral changes like reduced avoidance of death-related thoughts and greater resilience.
Frontiers in Virtual Reality
September 13, 2024
Chiharu Toi, Akira Ishiguchi, Shu Imaizumi
An out-of-body experience (OBE) illusion, where participants see their own back through a head-mounted display and feel as if they are sitting behind themselves, was induced at all tested heights of the first-person perspective (1PP). The illusion was stronger when the 1PP was lower or higher than usual. However, participants' perceived own height, and the perceived size and distance of external objects, did not change. Manipulating the 1PP height affects the strength of the OBE illusion but not the perception of self or object dimensions. The height of the 1PP may be an important factor in bodily illusions.
Frontiers in Virtual Reality
April 27, 2021
Nina Döllinger, Carolin Wienrich, M. Latoschik
Extended reality (XR) technologies—including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality—offer new ways to support mindfulness meditation by enabling sensory stimulation, presence, and embodiment. A systematic analysis of 50 papers from HCI and life sciences found that current empirical research on XR-based mindfulness focuses mainly on therapy and therapeutic outcomes, with most interventions limited to vocally guided meditations in nature-inspired virtual environments. The analysis did not reveal differences in mindfulness outcomes compared to non-mediated practices, but design proposals suggest XR could enable interactive and body-based innovations. The authors propose a framework with design guidelines for future XR-based mindfulness support.