REVIEW article
Front. Virtual Real.
Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frvir.2025.1638419
This article is part of the Research TopicEnabling EnvironmentsView all 3 articles
The impact of natural virtual environments on emotion elicitation: a state-of-the-art review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- 2Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of studies G. d'Annunzio, Chieti Pescara, Italy
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Natural environments have been widely recognized for their calming effects on individuals. However, access to such restorative environments can be limited by various circumstances. In these cases, Virtual Reality can be beneficial, as recent studies have shown that immersion in virtual natural environments has effects comparable to those of real nature. Various characteristics of natural environments can potentially influence the benefits they provide to humans. Additionally, the design of VR interventions can impact the experience and emotional response. This review aims to survey the current state of knowledge on the impact of virtual natural environments on emotion elicitation, addressing the types of interventions used in past studies, the variety of natural environments employed, and their differential impacts on emotional valence and arousal. This analysis shows how longer sessions, especially those involving interactive elements such as hand gestures, proved to be the most effective in enhancing emotional and physiological benefits. Among the various types of natural environments used, green spaces, particularly virtual forests, were the most frequently studied and showed consistent effectiveness in both reducing arousal and eliciting positive emotions. These findings can inform the development of new VR interventions designed to foster restoration and enhance positive emotional responses.
Keywords: nature, virtual reality, emotion elicitation, Valence, Arousal
Received: 30 May 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Marocco, Vitale, Grossi, Giffi and Santoriello. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Morena Santoriello, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of studies G. d'Annunzio, Chieti Pescara, Italy
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