Embodiment in virtual reality: an experiment on how visual and aural First- and Third-person modes affect embodiment and mindfulness
Isak de Villiers Bosman, Mila Bujić, L. Cosio, Oğuz ‘Oz’ Buruk, Kristine Jørgensen, Juho Hamari
Virtual Reality March 14, 2025 DOI: 10.1007/s10055-025-01129-w (opens in new tab)
The journal has published a correction to this paper. Read the correction (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study with qualitative content analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | First-person visual perspective in VR body-scan meditation positively influenced change in perceived body schema, but not virtual body ownership or control/agency, and audio perspective had no effect. |
Abstract
Immersion as an umbrella experience and embodiment are regarded as primary advantages of virtual reality and its capability to lead to other reflective experiences. Beyond the basis of stereoscopic head-mounted displays, however, there is paucity of research on altered ways of experiencing virtual reality with regards to the possibilities afforded by this medium. To address this gap, we explore the effects of perspective shifts, both in terms of the visual and aural modalities, on embodiment and embodied mindfulness. Using a virtual reality application that administers a body-scan meditation using different visual- and aural perspectives, we investigate the effects these perspectives have on embodiment and embodied mindfulness. Our results indicate that a first-person visual perspective positively influenced a change in perceived body schema, but not in acceptance of virtual body ownership or control/agency of a virtual body, nor do they suggest an effect of audio-based perspective on these outcomes. Investigation into the moderating effects of mindfulness- and immersive tendencies on these factors suggest that participants with low immersive tendencies experienced a greater change in their body schema in the visual first-person condition compared to the third-person condition. A qualitative content analysis on participants’ experiences indicate that few participants were able to express their experience in terms of audio. Our results contribute to the body of work on altered self-representations for mindfulness and extends on this concept with the notion of listening perspective as well as more generally to the design of sound, perspective, and embodiment in virtual reality.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 9
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review British Medical Bulletin April 21, 2021
- Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness Frontiers in Psychology September 4, 2018
- Splitting the Unity of Bodily Self: Toward a Comprehensive Review of Phenomenology and Psychopathology of Heautoscopy. Psychopathology 2023
- Embodied Mindfulness Questionnaire: Scale Development and Validation. Assessment March 2023
and 4 more in the library