Exploring Brain Activity During Awe-Inducing Virtual Reality Experiences: a Multi-Metric EEG Frequency Analysis

This scientific research represents a novel investigation into the neural underpinnings of the complex awe emotion, made possible with an innovative experimental setup that integrates nature-based Virtual Reality scenarios (nVRs) with the concurrent recording of electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The noninvasive EEG technique enables to capture brain electrical activity in real time and therefore holds great promise in elucidating the neural dynamics associated with complex emotional experiences. A group of 15 healthy volunteers participated in the study; EEG recordings were performed at baseline (closed-eyes resting-state without VR), and during the participants' navigation within four immersive nVRs, three designed to elicit the profound feeling of awe and one of reference. To unveil the neural underpinnings associated with awe experiences, linear and nonlinear frequency analyses, Power Spectral Density (PSD) and Power Spectral Entropy (PSE), were computed for each 2-second EEG signal epoch within four main EEG frequency bands. The Friedman test was applied to each channel to compare (i) awe-inducing vs. reference nVRs, highlighting the effect of awe, and (ii) reference nVRs vs. baseline condition, highlighting the effect of VR. The Friedman test results (p<0.01) showed that both PSD and PSE captured similar patterns within the comparison reference nVRs vs. baseline. In contrast, greater differences between the two methods were found in the awe-inducing vs. reference nVRs comparison, showing PSD and PSE changes that were specific to each awe-inducing nVRs. The VR-EEG experimental setup, combined with linear and nonlinear EEG analysis methodologies, enabled us to comprehensively investigate the frequency-specific brain activity underlying diverse awe-inducing experimental conditions. Our findings give valuable insights into the neural underpinnings of awe experiences, confirming the potential of immersive VR in emotional neuroscience.