Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality
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Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality. / Mostajeran, Fariba; Steinicke, Frank; Reinhart, Sarah; Stuerzlinger, Wolfgang; Riecke, Bernhard E; Kühn, Simone.
In: SCI REP-UK, Vol. 13, No. 1, 17.05.2023, p. 8053.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Adding virtual plants leads to higher cognitive performance and psychological well-being in virtual reality
AU - Mostajeran, Fariba
AU - Steinicke, Frank
AU - Reinhart, Sarah
AU - Stuerzlinger, Wolfgang
AU - Riecke, Bernhard E
AU - Kühn, Simone
N1 - © 2023. The Author(s).
PY - 2023/5/17
Y1 - 2023/5/17
N2 - Previous research has shown the positive effects of exposure to real and virtual nature. To investigate how such benefits might generalize to ever-more-prevalent virtual workplaces, we examined the effects of the absence or presence of virtual plants in an office environment in Virtual Reality (VR) on users' cognitive performance and psychological well-being. The results of our user study with 39 participants show that in the presence of virtual plants, participants performed significantly better in both short-term memory and creativity tasks. Furthermore, they reported higher psychological well-being scores, including positive affect and attentive coping, whilst reporting lower feelings of anger and aggression after exposure to virtual plants in VR. The virtual office with plants was also perceived as more restorative and induced a higher sense of presence. Overall, these results highlight how the presence of virtual plants in VR can have positive influences on users, and therefore, constitute important design considerations when developing future working and learning spaces.
AB - Previous research has shown the positive effects of exposure to real and virtual nature. To investigate how such benefits might generalize to ever-more-prevalent virtual workplaces, we examined the effects of the absence or presence of virtual plants in an office environment in Virtual Reality (VR) on users' cognitive performance and psychological well-being. The results of our user study with 39 participants show that in the presence of virtual plants, participants performed significantly better in both short-term memory and creativity tasks. Furthermore, they reported higher psychological well-being scores, including positive affect and attentive coping, whilst reporting lower feelings of anger and aggression after exposure to virtual plants in VR. The virtual office with plants was also perceived as more restorative and induced a higher sense of presence. Overall, these results highlight how the presence of virtual plants in VR can have positive influences on users, and therefore, constitute important design considerations when developing future working and learning spaces.
KW - Humans
KW - Psychological Well-Being
KW - Virtual Reality
KW - Attention
KW - Emotions
KW - Cognition
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-023-34718-3
DO - 10.1038/s41598-023-34718-3
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 37198210
VL - 13
SP - 8053
JO - SCI REP-UK
JF - SCI REP-UK
SN - 2045-2322
IS - 1
ER -