Challenges and Opportunities of Immersive Technologies for Mindfulness Meditation: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Mindfulness is considered an important factor of an individual's subjective well-being. Consequently, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has investigated approaches that strengthen mindfulness, i.e., by inventing multimedia technologies to support mindfulness meditation. These approaches often use smartphones, tablets, or consumer-grade desktop systems to allow everyday usage in users' private lives or in the scope of organized therapies. Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality (VR, AR, MR; in short: XR) significantly extend the design space for such approaches. XR covers a wide range of potential sensory stimulation, perceptive and cognitive manipulations, content presentation, interaction, and agency. These facilities are linked to typical XR-specific perceptions that are conceptually closely related to mindfulness research, such as (virtual) presence and (virtual) embodiment. However, a successful exploitation of XR that strengthens mindfulness requires a systematic analysis of the potential interrelation and influencing mechanisms between XR technology, its properties, factors, and phenomena and existing models and theories of the construct of mindfulness. This article reports such a systematic analysis of XR-related research from HCI and life sciences to determine the extent to which existing research frameworks on HCI and mindfulness can be applied to XR technologies, the potential of XR technologies to support mindfulness, and open research gaps. Fifty papers of ACM Digital Library and National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (PubMed) with and without empirical efficacy evaluation were included in our analysis. The results reveal that at the current time, empirical research on XR-based mindfulness support mainly focuses on therapy and therapeutic outcomes. Furthermore, most of the currently investigated XR-supported mindfulness interactions are limited to vocally guided meditations within nature-inspired virtual environments. While an analysis of empirical research on those systems did not reveal differences in mindfulness compared to non-mediated mindfulness practices, various design proposals illustrate that XR has the potential to provide interactive and body-based innovations for mindfulness practice. We propose a structured approach for future work to specify and further explore the potential of XR as mindfulness-support. The resulting framework provides design guidelines for XR-based mindfulness support based on the elements and psychological mechanisms of XR interactions.

The Influence of Avatar Embodiment on Time Perception - Towards VR for Time-Based Therapy

“…It has been shown that mindfulness can be associated with time perception and a higher level of mindfulness can lead to a faster passage of time (Weiner et al, 2016). There are already quite a few therapeutic approaches in VR that rely on mindfulness meditation (Döllinger et al, 2021). People slowly drift down a computergenerated river in VR (Nararro-Haro et al, 2016;Gomez et al, 2017;Navarro-Haro et al, 2019) or walk through a forest (Gromala et al, 2015).…”

An interaction design model for virtual reality mindfulness meditation using imagery‐based transformation and positive feedback

“…With the increasing popularity of mindfulness meditation, HCI has studied ways to strengthen mindfulness, so that users can participate in meditation practice anytime and anywhere. VR technology can promote attention to feelings and reduce external distractions 25 through a strong sense of immersion, help express and mediate understanding of subtle meditative experiences, 26 and potentially provide interaction and body-based innovations for mindfulness practice. 25 Several studies using VR as a tool to support mindfulness meditation have confirmed its potential in aiding the acquisition and experience of meditation skills.…”

“…VR technology can promote attention to feelings and reduce external distractions 25 through a strong sense of immersion, help express and mediate understanding of subtle meditative experiences, 26 and potentially provide interaction and body-based innovations for mindfulness practice. 25 Several studies using VR as a tool to support mindfulness meditation have confirmed its potential in aiding the acquisition and experience of meditation skills. For example, a ten-minute VR mindfulness meditation training developed by Minkesh Asati et al 27 allowed participants to become relaxed and focused.…”

A Feasibility Test of a Brief Mobile Virtual Reality Meditation for Frontline Healthcare Workers in a Hospital Setting

“…Beyond the significant perk of being able to quickly and easily "step-out" of one environment, and "step into" a virtual space, it has been suggested that VR has the potential to facilitate aspects of the meditation process itself. For example, specific visual cues provided in the VR context may assist the user in directing attention more successfully than audio-only meditations (Döllinger et al, 2021). Consequently, this approach seems ideal for health care settings.…”