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VR MEDITATION

Practice Mindfulness In VR

HCI | VR Game Design | Meditation |  Bio-feedback |  Soundscape |  Immersive

OVERVIEW

VR MEDITATION is a EEG Neurofeedback based Virtual Reality therapy experience aimed to help people with self-awareness and self-regulation.

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It provides three mindfulness game-like practices that integrate traditional meditation techniques -breathing regulation , object meditation, body scan exploring the potential of meditation in a virtual reality context.

 

At its core, it enables users to go into inner self, be aware of their real-time mindfulness state(by collecting real-time Neurofeedback), and actively control the responsive VR environment. It challenges the previous eye-closed meditation technique by asking the question: How could proper visual guidance in an immersive environment help people with clearing their mind from any mental activity and thoughts and go into a mindful state?

TEAM

MY ROLE

TIME LINE

Xiaofei Hong  GSD MDes Tech 2022

Joseph Wu GSD MDes Mediums 2023

Chen Liu  Berkelee Undergraduate 2022

Concept Development

C# Programming

 Unity implementation

Visual & Motion Design
Interaction Design

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10/2021 - 12/2021

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

EEG-based neurofeedback is a nonpharmacological and non-invasive neuromodulatory tool that can be used to modify arousal-related EEG brain activities.

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Meditation training is one of the cognitive state monitoring applications. According to the study, the meditation practice can improve the classification accuracy of EEG patterns. 

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Alpha synchronisation has been viewed as an index of relaxation, while desynchronisation remains associated with excitation.

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States of lower stress/arousal(i.e.,with higher alpha power) would be accompanied with decreased interest in and awareness of environmental stimuli, whereas the opposite would be the case for states of higher stress/arousal。

DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

Software

We acquire continuous, wireless, real-time EEG data using MuseS. The values are streamed and processed in Touchdesigner, and then were sent to Unity and Csound via OSC to a specific IP and port.  We monitor alpha brain wave activity and mapped the data to real-time changing visual design. We created three scenes of practicing mindfulness in the game engine Unity3D. 

Hardware

This project was developed for the Oculus Quest2. We used a Muse S EEG as the EEG sensor. We extract the alpha wave as the main data indicating level of concentration. The subject needs to put on the headband first on their forehead, and then adjust the headset to a lower place. We used the audio system provided by the headset for a 360 immersive soundscape experience.

ONBOARDING

  • Landed in the darkness

(Or we can have sensor that detect Indoor light environment, and gradually guide user from real world environment to meditation environment)

 

  • Choose your practice method

BREATHING REGULATION

  • Box breathing

  • also referred to as square breathing, is a deep breathing technique that can help you slow down your breathing. It works by distracting your mind as you count to four, calming your nervous system, and decreasing stress in your body.

  • Visual Feedback

  • Breathing Regulation:

  • Skybox Color Change

  • Lightspot Scale Change

  • Alpha Wave Mapped To:

  • Opacity of the Mandala

  • Interactive Sound

  • Alpha wave mapped to

  • gain/filter/reverb/frequency

  • Haptic Feedback

  • When Grabbing the ball, it would vibrate once per second, which provide the rhythm for breathing

  • Traditional way

  • Voice guidane

  • Visual Guidance

  • Relaxing Background Music

  • Usually in the nature

  • What we test

  • Replace Script guidance with interactive music

  • Useing visual/sound/haptic to guide breathing

  • User can choose to focus on the Flower or on the spot light or close eyes while feeling breathing

  • Findings

  • We might want to try test heart-rate and blood pressure and use as feedback

  • Experiencers might be easily drifted away if the visual/audio/haptic is not synchronized

  • We might want to add voice guidance back as comparison

Logo_lotus_trim.gif

OBJECT MEDIATION

  • This form of meditation is fairly straightforward because it uses the object of our breath to focus attention, to anchor the mind and maintain awareness. 

  • In object meditation, the object is irrelevant. It is only important that we give it proper attention.

  • But it is better to choose objects that do not generate any emotional response, such as a photograph. And to do it with objects that fill us with energy, such as a natural object.

  • Visual Feedback

  • Breathing Regulation:

  • Skybox Color Change

  • Alpha Wave Mapped To:

  • blooming speed 

  • particle alpha/density

  • Theta wave mapped to

  • enviroment brightness

  • Interactive Sound

  • Alpha wave mapped to

  • gain/filter/reverb/frequency

  • Traditional way

  • Voice guidane

  • Use an external phisical object/image

  • (rich in details : material, light, geometry)

  • A small object that you can gaze at

  • What we test

  • Remove voice guidance

  • Reduce details

  • (keep lower level of details ,focus on the whole :  color & animation speed)

  • Add breathing pattern hint

  • Add responsive environment

  • Findings

  • The whole journey is a bit short

  • We might want several lotus/ or more object to move to as practicing

  • As the data is unstable, Experiencer may got distracted worrying about the reliability of collected data

Logo_scan_Trim.gif

BODY SCAN

  • “The body scan is one of the most effective ways to begin a mindfulness meditation practice. The purpose is to tune in to your body—to reconnect to your physical self—and notice any sensations you’re feeling without judgement. While many people find the body scan relaxing, relaxation is not the primary goal. The goal is to train the mind to be more open and aware of sensory experiences—and ultimately, more accepting. With time and practice, the body scan will build your ability to focus and be fully present in your life.”

  • 8 Spots:

  • We attached 8 spots to the body parts : two feet, two legs, two arms chest and head

  • Scan from the left feet

  • A luminous light spot appeared on the body part as hint

  • eeg alpha wave is mapped to the luminous value

  • calculate the alpha wave in real-time

  • mean alpha wave is detected above 90

  • trigger particle absorbing

  • alpha wave is then mapped to the 

  • 1. particle speed flying to you

  • 2. particle luminous

  • after all the particle reached the part

  • move to next part

  • Traditional way

  • Voice guidane

  • Eyes closed journey

  • What we test

  • Replace Voice guidance with visual guidance

  • Add breathing pattern hint (breathing skybox)

  • Add responsive environment

  • Findings

  • Watching myself moving help with bring attention to the body-part

  • Small movements (like sitting, slowly walking) feel more comfortable

  • The whole journey can be longer

Usability Test
&
User Feedback

  • "I like the the metaphoric in design"

  • "The UI of mindfulness hint could be a bit confusing"

  • "I feel like I have to do something to control the scene, then I realized it's more about the passiveness, after that I began to embrace the peacefulness "

  • "I wonder the particles could be too much distraction while meditating"

FUTURE STEPS

  • As to finish our study, we will design a system which would serve as a comparison group:

  • Breathing Regulation 

  • For scene one, we might want to test if having an object to focus on is going to help with breathing. Therefore , we would have the mandala replaced with a voice guidance:

  • (https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/docs/Script-Mindful-Breathing.pdf).

  • We would also like to test using heart-rate as data, do a delayed feedback to guide users into a balanced rhythm.

  • Object Meditation

  • For scene two, we want to test if an animated visual is going to help with mindfulness. Therefore, we would have the blooming lotus replaced with a static lotus, and add a voice guidance:

  • https://meditation4everymind.home.blog/leading-meditations/meditation-external-object/

  • Body Scan

  • For scene three, we want to test if seeing your body moving in real-time is going to help you focus on the body-part. Therefore, we would might to test in a non-VR way, simply ask the user to close their eyes and add a voice guidance: 

  • (https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/docs/Script-Body-Scan.pdf)

  • For now we have only tested the system on a few users.We haven’t collected/ analyzed the data yet. So in all, we need to run a few more pilot tests.

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