Electroencephalographic Correlates of Sensorimotor Integration and Embodiment during the Appreciation of Virtual Architectural Environments

Abstract

Nowadays there is the hope that neuroscientific findings will contribute to the improvement of building design in order to create environments which satisfy man's demands. This can be achieved through the understanding of neurophysiological correlates of architectural perception. To this aim, the electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of 12 healthy subjects were recorded during the perception of three immersive virtual reality environments (VEs). Afterwards, participants were asked to describe their experience in terms of Familiarity, Novelty, Comfort, Pleasantness, Arousal, and Presence using a rating scale from 1 to 9. These perceptual dimensions are hypothesized to influence the pattern of cerebral spectral activity, while Presence is used to assess the realism of the virtual stimulation. Hence, the collected scores were used to analyze the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the EEG for each behavioral dimension in the theta, alpha and mu bands by means of time-frequency analysis and topographic statistical maps. Analysis of Presence resulted in the activation of the frontal-midline theta, indicating the involvement of sensorimotor integration mechanisms when subjects expressed to feel more present in the VEs. Similar patterns also characterized the experience of familiar and comfortable VEs. In addition, pleasant VEs increased the theta power across visuomotor circuits and activated the alpha band in areas devoted to visuospatial exploration and processing of categorical spatial relations. Finally, the de-synchronization of the mu rhythm described the perception of pleasant and comfortable VEs, showing the involvement of left motor areas and embodied mechanisms for environment appreciation. Overall, these results show the possibility to measure EEG correlates of architectural perception involving the cerebral circuits of sensorimotor integration, spatial navigation, and embodiment. These observations can help testing architectural hypotheses in order to design environments matching the changing needs of humans.

EEG Alpha Power Is Modulated by Attentional Changes during Cognitive Tasks and Virtual Reality Immersion

“…is may have perspective implications considering the emerging use of VR associated with EEG-based measures in several applications. In particular, the use of VR technology together with objective physiological measures (other than subjective evaluation) is rapidly increasing as a valuable tool to inform design decisions in the early phases of artificial environment projects ( [56][57][58][59]) and/or to study human/environment interaction [60,61]. Moreover and in a different context, there is a growing number of studies investing the use and effectiveness of VR-based therapy for psychiatric disorders [60,62].…”

Embodiment Is Related to Better Performance on a Brain–Computer Interface in Immersive Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study

“…Initially coined the Proteus effect [19], this sense of embodiment that arises from viewing a virtual limb has the potential to alter one's own neurophysiology and behavior. Regarding motor behavior, an increased level of embodiment has been shown to be related to increased sensorimotor rhythms (SMR) desynchronization [24]. In related work, observing the actions of virtual limbs in virtual reality has been shown to increase SMR desynchronization [25].…”

“…In related work, observing the actions of virtual limbs in virtual reality has been shown to increase SMR desynchronization [25]. In addition, the immersive nature of HMD-VR has also been shown to increase an individual's sense of presence in the virtual environment [24], which in the context of HMD-VR can be defined as the illusion of actually being present in the virtual environment [26]. It is also unclear whether neurofeedback provided in HMD-VR increases one's feeling of presence compared to screen-based neurofeedback.…”

Visual appearance of a virtual upper limb modulates the temperature of the real hand: a thermal imaging study in Immersive Virtual Reality

“…skin temperature of the hand, wrist and forearm of the right (experimental) and left (control) upper limb] were acquired. Moreover, since heart rate (HR) may be an index of general autonomic reactivity (Bradley & Lang, ; Kreibig, ) rather than a proxy to embodiment (Fusaro et al ., ) and presence (Vecchiato et al ., ), we recorded it as a control measure. Based on previous evidence that (i) the illusory SoE is reflected by a drop in skin temperature of the real hand (Moseley et al ., ) and (ii) the observation of a virtual body in 1PP is sufficient to elicit SoE (Petkova & Ehrsson, ; Slater et al ., ; Petkova et al ., ; Maselli & Slater, ; Tieri et al ., ,b; Pavone et al ., ), we expected maximal subjective ratings of SoE (FO and VA) and a decrease in skin temperature during observation of the Full‐Limb condition.…”