Chung Kyungmi, Lee Daeho, Park Jin Young
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Med Internet Res. 2018 Nov 30;20(11):e11152. doi: 10.2196/11152.
With the global trend of urbanization, there are increasing reports of a possible association between decreased exposure to nature and increased occurrence of mental disorders. New 360° virtual reality (VR) technology using smartphones and portable VR glasses can overcome spatial and temporal limitations to help people deal with mental fatigue in everyday life.
On the basis of attention restoration theory (ART), this study aimed to investigate whether the amplitude of the mismatch negativity (MMN)/P3a complex could act as an event-related potential (ERP) biomarker of involuntary attention restoration during exposure to 360° virtual nature in healthy young adults with different levels of restorative VR experience.
A total of 40 healthy adults completed prequestionnaires on demographics and simulator sickness and postquestionnaires on simulator sickness and perceived restorativeness before and after exposure to virtual nature, respectively. During the VR exposure, brain activity was measured by electroencephalography as participants were asked to conduct a 2-tone passive auditory oddball task.
The amplitude and latency of the MMN/P3a complex were compared between individuals reporting a highly restorative experience and those reporting a less restorative experience. Although viewing a virtual nature environment, the high restorative group (N=19) exhibited significantly reduced P3a amplitudes compared with the low restorative group (N=20; t=2.57; P=.02; d=0.59). Particularly, a moderate but significant negative correlation was found between the self-reported restorativeness scores and the P3a amplitudes at the fronto-central region (r=-.38; P=.02). However, the latency of the MMN/P3a complex did not significantly differ between the 2 groups (auditory mismatch negativity: t=-1.47; P=.15 and P3a: t=-0.31; P=.76).
Considering individuals' restorative experience, the amplitude of the fronto-central MMN/P3a complex can potentially be employed as a distinct ERP component of interest in involuntary attention restoration during virtual nature experience in healthy young adults. The findings for the 360° virtual nature experience seem to be consistent with those of previous ERP studies on the effects of meditation practice. This study extends the findings of previous ART and ERP studies of real-world meditation, restoration, and mental fatigue management into the virtual world created by mobile phone-based VR glasses and 360° video content.
随着全球城市化趋势的发展，越来越多的报告指出接触自然减少与精神障碍发生率增加之间可能存在关联。利用智能手机和便携式虚拟现实（VR）眼镜的新型360°虚拟现实技术可以克服空间和时间限制，帮助人们应对日常生活中的精神疲劳。
基于注意力恢复理论（ART），本研究旨在调查在具有不同程度恢复性VR体验的健康年轻成年人接触360°虚拟自然期间，失配负波（MMN）/P3a复合体的波幅是否可以作为非自愿注意力恢复的事件相关电位（ERP）生物标志物。
共有40名健康成年人分别在接触虚拟自然之前和之后完成了关于人口统计学和模拟器疾病的预调查问卷以及关于模拟器疾病和感知恢复性的后调查问卷。在VR暴露期间，当参与者被要求进行双音被动听觉oddball任务时，通过脑电图测量大脑活动。
比较了报告高度恢复性体验的个体和报告恢复性较差体验的个体之间MMN/P3a复合体的波幅和潜伏期。尽管观看虚拟自然环境，但与低恢复性组（N = 20；t = 2.57；P = 0.02；d = 0.59）相比，高恢复性组（N = 19）的P3a波幅显著降低。特别是，在额中央区域，自我报告的恢复性得分与P3a波幅之间存在中等但显著的负相关（r = -0.38；P = 0.02）。然而，两组之间MMN/P3a复合体的潜伏期没有显著差异（听觉失配负波：t = -1.47；P = 0.15，P3a：t = -0.31；P = 0.76）。
考虑到个体的恢复性体验，额中央MMN/P3a复合体的波幅可能被用作健康年轻成年人在虚拟自然体验期间非自愿注意力恢复中一个独特的感兴趣的ERP成分。360°虚拟自然体验的研究结果似乎与先前关于冥想练习效果的ERP研究结果一致。本研究将先前关于现实世界冥想、恢复和精神疲劳管理的ART和ERP研究结果扩展到了由基于手机的VR眼镜和360°视频内容创建的虚拟世界中。
