Exploring the Influence of Different Natural Virtual Environments on Psychological Perceptions for Stress Relief

Natural environments play a crucial role in alleviating stress and improving sleep quality. In particular, the lighting and colors in these environments can impact our circadian rhythms, thereby influencing our physiological processes. In this research, we attempted to identify VRE elements, such as color and light intensity, that may lead to drowsiness and a sense of tranquility. This study investigated participants' emotional responses and their impact on users' perception of VREs in various timeframes following dusk and in scenarios with or without a campfire. We aimed to develop a controllable virtual environment for emotional relaxation and regulation experiments. Specifically, we designed three virtual scenes, sunset, moonlight, and starry sky, to study their influences on stress release. The experiment involved 17 participants aged 20 to 40, and we measured the subjects' emotions, including loneliness, sadness, anxiety, relaxation, calmness, and happiness. The experimental results reveal that Starry Sky with Campfire and Sunset with Campfire received lower loneliness and anxiety ratings. Starry Sky with Campfire was deemed the most suitable for relaxation and calmness. Interestingly, Moonlight with No Campfire and Starry Sky with Campfire scenes had similar calmness ratings. However, Moonlight with No Campfire was more likely to induce loneliness, possibly due to sensory cues triggering implicit memories and unique emotional experiences. This suggests that calmness can arise as a response to loneliness in a moonlit environment, serving as a form of emotional suppression to mitigate anxiety and sadness.