Responses in virtual and real environments: A virtual reality-induced neurophysiological study

Abstract

Background: The field of research concerning the impact of virtual reality (VR) technology on cognitive and motor processes has gained considerable attention due to its rapid development. The objective of this work is to conduct a comparative analysis of the neurophysiological responses evoked by immersive and semi-immersive VR settings, with a particular focus on examining their effects on brain activity and connectivity.
Methodology: A total of 30 individuals in good health participated in activities involving immersive VR, semi-immersive VR, and real-life environments. Cortical hemodynamic responses were assessed by monitoring neurophysiological responses using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The research included a combination of psychological questionnaires and physiological devices to assess the participants’ subjective experiences during the exercises.
Results: The results of the study indicated that both immersive and semi-immersive VR tasks elicited notably higher levels of activation in many brain regions, such as the bilateral prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, frontal eye fields, primary motor cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and premotor cortex, when compared to the resting state or real environment. It is noteworthy that the semi-immersive VR task elicited a greater level of activation in a larger number of brain areas than the immersive task. Regarding functional connectivity, it was shown that semi-immersive VR exhibited enhanced connectivity in brain regions associated with visual processing. Conversely, real-world tasks necessitated greater cognitive involvement, as indicated by the increased functional connectivity in regions associated with cognition and decision-making.
Conclusions: This study elucidates the discernible neurophysiological effects associated with immersive and semi-immersive VR experiences. The utilization of semi-immersive VR has the potential to significantly stimulate the visual and attentional networks of the brain, indicating its suitability for various applications that demand robust visual processing capabilities. The findings of this study enhance our comprehension of the intricate relationship between various VR environments and cognitive processing, as well as brain connectivity. These insights are valuable for the development of VR systems tailored to specific cognitive or therapeutic objectives.

Keywords

Immersive VR / Semi-immersive VR / Virtual reality / fNIRS / Brain activation

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Wenhao Huang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-original draft. Hui Xie: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-original draft. Yadan Zheng: Writing-review & editing. Liujie Su: Writing-review & editing. Babak Hassan Beygi: Writing-review & editing. Xin Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing-review & editing.

Ethics statement

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Approval Number: [2022]02-305-01).

Consent for publication

All participants provided written informed consent before their participation.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to restrictions stated in the ethical approval concerning participant confidentiality. However, anonymized data may be made available from the corresponding author (Xin Li) upon reasonable request and with permission from the Ethics Committee of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.

Funding

This work was supported by the program of Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Rehabilitation Medicine (2023B110003) and the National Key Research and Development Project (2020YFC2004205).

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

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