Meditating in a neurofeedback virtual reality: effects on sense of presence, meditation depth and brain oscillations

ABSTRACTWith the advent of consumer-grade electroencephalography (EEG) and virtual reality (VR) devices, the use of human cognitive processes directly as means for user-adapted interaction in immersive virtual environments has become increasingly relevant. In this study (N = 43), we investigate electroencephalography-based neurofeedback interaction in virtual reality (VR). Particularly, we investigate this phenomenon in the context of meditation which enables the studying of cognitive processes (attention, sense of presence, meditation depth) when using an immersive interface that is adaptive based on neural responses. A prototype virtual reality environment was built that employs head-mounted display (HMD), and the neurofeedback functionality guided the user to increase the neural indices of meditation-related concentration and relaxation. The observed findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of neurofeedback functionality and VR in evoking desired types of neural activation and subjective experiences.KEYWORDS: EEGimmersionmeditationneurofeedbackpresencevirtual reality Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Academy of Finland: [Grant Number 305576]; The Finnish Work Environment Fund: [Grant Number 114169].