Closed-Loop Attention Restoration Theory for Virtual Reality-Based Attentional Engagement Enhancement

Today, as media and technology multitasking becomes pervasive, the majority of young people face a challenge regarding their attentional engagement (that is, how well their attention can be maintained). While various approaches to improve attentional engagement exist, it is difficult to produce an effect in younger people, due to the inadequate attraction of these approaches themselves. Here, we show that a single 30-min engagement with an attention restoration theory (ART)-inspired closed-loop software program (Virtual ART) delivered on a consumer-friendly virtual reality head-mounted display (VR-HMD) could lead to improvements in both general attention level and the depth of engagement in young university students. These improvements were associated with positive changes in both behavioral (response time and response time variability) and key electroencephalography (EEG)-based neural metrics (frontal midline theta inter-trial coherence and parietal event-related potential P3b). All the results were based on the comparison of the standard Virtual ART tasks (control group, n = 15) and closed-loop Virtual ART tasks (treatment group, n = 15). This study provides the first case of EEG evidence of a VR-HMD-based closed-loop ART intervention generating enhanced attentional engagement.