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Fostering Interactive Mindfulness Experiences in VR

  • Conference paper
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Extended Reality (XR Salento 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 15028))

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Abstract

In Positive Computing, Virtual and Mixed Reality have become established technological tools to foster positive subjective experiences and individual traits. A particular focus is on the development of applications for mindfulness practices. However, such applications only offer people an alternative way of presenting the guided imagery flow on which the mindfulness experience is grounded. Indeed, people can experience a concrete rendering of the environment. This study investigates whether allowing people to actively explore and manipulate the guided imagery flow through their actions affects their mindfulness experience. To this aim, we present an interactive VR application for mindfulness practice, facilitating the user’s interactive behavior. Twenty-four persons participated in a pilot experiment practicing mindfulness in a between-subjects design with interactive VR vs. audio-only conditions. In both, participants self-reported their perceived effectiveness of mindfulness and their moods. Results show that the immersive interactive VR practice improved a more comprehensive range of moods than the audio-only condition, while both conditions proved to be on par when assessing self-reported mindfulness.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://unity.com.

  2. 2.

    https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/XRPluginArchitecture.html.

  3. 3.

    https://www.jamovi.org.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Chirico, Tommaso Palombi & Fabio Lucidi

  2. DISI, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Giovanna Varni

  3. DIBRIS, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Radoslaw Niewiadomski

  4. DI, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Yifei Li

  5. Department of Computer Science, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Maurizio Mancini

Authors
  1. Andrea Chirico
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  2. Tommaso Palombi
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  3. Giovanna Varni
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  4. Radoslaw Niewiadomski
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  5. Yifei Li
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  6. Fabio Lucidi
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  7. Maurizio Mancini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrea Chirico .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

    Lucio Tommaso De Paolis

  2. University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

    Pasquale Arpaia

  3. CNR-STIIMA, Lecco, Italy

    Marco Sacco

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Chirico, A. et al. (2024). Fostering Interactive Mindfulness Experiences in VR. In: De Paolis, L.T., Arpaia, P., Sacco, M. (eds) Extended Reality. XR Salento 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15028. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71704-8_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71704-8_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-71703-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-71704-8

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