Affective Computing has emerged as an important field of study that aims to develop systems that can automatically recognize emotions. Up to the present, elicitation has been carried out with non-immersive stimuli. This study, on the other hand, aims to develop an emotion recognition system for affective states evoked through Immersive Virtual Environments. Four alternative virtual rooms were designed to elicit four possible arousal-valence combinations, as described in each quadrant of the Circumplex Model of Affects. An experiment involving the recording of the electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG) of sixty participants was carried out. A set of features was extracted from these signals using various state-of-the-art metrics that quantify brain and cardiovascular linear and nonlinear dynamics, which were input into a Support Vector Machine classifier to predict the subject’s arousal and valence perception. The model’s accuracy was 75.00% along the arousal dimension and 71.21% along the valence dimension. Our findings validate the use of Immersive Virtual Environments to elicit and automatically recognize different emotional states from neural and cardiac dynamics; this development could have novel applications in fields as diverse as Architecture, Health, Education and Videogames.

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Affective computing in virtual reality: emotion recognition from brain and heartbeat dynamics using wearable sensors.

Nature exposure in virtual reality (VR) can provide emotional well-being benefits for people who cannot access the outdoors. Little is known about how these simulated experiences compare with real outdoor experiences. We conduct an experiment with healthy undergraduate students that tests the effects of 6 min of outdoor nature exposure with 6 min of exposure to a 360-degree VR nature video, which is recorded at the outdoor nature exposure location. Skin conductivity, restorativeness, and mood before and after exposure are measured. We find that both types of nature exposure increase physiological arousal, benefit positive mood levels, and are restorative compared to an indoor setting without nature; however, for outdoor exposure, positive mood levels increase and for virtual nature, they stay the same. The nature-based experience shows benefits above and beyond the variance explained by participants' preferences, nature and VR experiences, and demographic characteristics. Settings where people have limited access to nature might consider using VR nature experiences to promote mental health.

/pdf/can-simulated-nature-support-mental-health-comparing-short-4hkonwcm3v.pdf

Can Simulated Nature Support Mental Health? Comparing Short, Single-Doses of 360-Degree Nature Videos in Virtual Reality With the Outdoors.

What is the best way of delivering virtual nature for improving mood? An experimental comparison of high definition TV, 360° video, and computer generated virtual reality

Emotions play a critical role in our daily lives, so the understanding and recognition of emotional responses is crucial for human research. Affective computing research has mostly used non-immersive two-dimensional (2D) images or videos to elicit emotional states. However, immersive virtual reality, which allows researchers to simulate environments in controlled laboratory conditions with high levels of sense of presence and interactivity, is becoming more popular in emotion research. Moreover, its synergy with implicit measurements and machine-learning techniques has the potential to impact transversely in many research areas, opening new opportunities for the scientific community. This paper presents a systematic review of the emotion recognition research undertaken with physiological and behavioural measures using head-mounted displays as elicitation devices. The results highlight the evolution of the field, give a clear perspective using aggregated analysis, reveal the current open issues and provide guidelines for future research.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/18/5163/pdf

Emotion Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality: From Statistics to Affective Computing.

Contact with nature has been proposed as a solution to achieve physiological relaxation and stress recovery, and a number of scientific verification outcomes have been shown. Compared with studies of the other senses, studies investigating the visual effects of nature have been at the forefront of this research field. A variety of physiological indicators adopted for use in indoor experiments have shown the benefits of viewing nature. In this systematic review, we examined current peer-reviewed articles regarding the physiological effects of visual stimulation from elements or representations of nature in an indoor setting. The articles were analyzed for their stimulation method, physiological measures applied, groups of participants, and outcomes. Thirty-seven articles presenting evidence of the physiological effects of viewing nature were selected. The majority of the studies that used display stimuli, such as photos, 3D images, virtual reality, and videos of natural landscapes, confirmed that viewing natural scenery led to more relaxed body responses than viewing the control. Studies that used real nature stimuli reported that visual contact with flowers, green plants, and wooden materials had positive effects on cerebral and autonomic nervous activities compared with the control. Accumulation of scientific evidence of the physiological relaxation associated with viewing elements of nature would be useful for preventive medicine, specifically nature therapy.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/23/4739/pdf

Physiological Benefits of Viewing Nature: A Systematic Review of Indoor Experiments.

INTRODUCTION Virtual reality (VR) can provide exposure to nature for those living in isolated confined environments We evaluated VR-presented natural settings for reducing stress and improving mood METHODS There were 18 participants (9 men, 9 women), ages 32 ± 12 yr, who viewed three 15-min 360° scenes (an indoor control, rural Ireland, and remote beaches) Subjects were mentally stressed with arithmetic before scenes Electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability measured psycho-physiological arousal The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the 15-question Modified Reality Judgment and Presence Questionnaire (MRJPQ) measured mood and scene quality RESULTS Reductions in EDA from baseline were greater at the end of the natural scenes compared to the control scene (-059, -052, and 032 μS, respectively) The natural scenes reduced negative affect from baseline ( 12 and 11 points), but the control scene did not ( 04 points) MRJPQ scores for the control scene were lower than both natural scenes (49, 67, and 65 points, respectively) Within the two natural scenes, the preferred scene reduced negative affect ( 24 points) more than the second choice scene ( 18 points) and scored higher on the MRJPQ (68 vs 64 points) DISCUSSION Natural scene VR provided relaxation both objectively and subjectively, and scene preference had a significant effect on mood and perception of scene quality VR may enable relaxation for people living in isolated confined environments, particularly when matched to personal preferencesAnderson AP, Mayer MD, Fellows AM, Cowan DR, Hegel MT, Buckey JC Relaxation with immersive natural scenes presented using virtual reality Aerosp Med Hum Perform 2017; 88(6):520526

Michael D. Mayer

Papers

Relaxation with Immersive Natural Scenes Presented Using Virtual Reality.