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Assessing the Ability of Virtual Reality Environments to Change Brain State: An Electroencephalographic Investigation

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Rae Fletcher¹ (rfletcher@uvic.ca), Olave E Krigolson²; ¹University of Victoria, ²Theoretical and Applied Neuroscience Laboratory

Virtual reality has been shown to alter mental states, particularly by reducing stress, alleviating anxiety, and improving mood regulation (Riches et al., 2023). A key question however, is whether a virtual reality experience can actually change mental state. Here, we examined whether or not mobile electroencephalography (mEEG) could be used to differentiate between two different virtual reality experiences designed to create two different mental states. Specifically, we had thirty participants complete Float VR’s “relax” and “energize” experiences while EEG data was recorded via a CGX Dev Kit using PEER software run off of an Apple iPad Pro. Our behavioural results indicated that the two virtual experiences had their intended effect. In terms of the EEG data, we found that the relax experience increased posterior alpha power relative to the energize experience (p < 0.05). Given that prior research has demonstrated that increased alpha power is associated with increased relaxation (e.g., Magosso et al., 2019), we posit that the relax virtual experience achieved its intended effect. We also found that the energize experience increased frontal beta power relative to the relax condition (p < 0.05). In terms of increases in beta power, prior work has shown that increased beta power is associated with greater arousal and alertness (Basar et al., 2001) which is in line with the goal of the energize experience. In sum, our results suggest that virtual reality can modify mental states and that mEEG is a viable methodology for tracking these changes in mental state

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotional responding