Plants Improve Performance and Feelings of Wellbeing in Virtual Realities

Photo: UHH/HCI virtual office with plants How can we improve cognitive abilities and feelings of wellbeing in virtual worlds? An international team, led by the Department of Informatics at Universität Hamburg made up of members from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, has found that the presence of plants in virtual office spaces can improve intellectual productivity, memory, and feelings of well-being. Their results have been published in the journal Scientific Reports. More than 50 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas, set to increase to 68 percent by 2050. Many people already only have limited access to nature, as human-made living spaces are often separated from their natural environment. At the same time, fewer and fewer people are working in a traditional office, a development accelerated by remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, this trend may even increase through the use of new kinds of immersive virtual-reality (VR) working spaces. An interdisciplinary research team has now examined the effects of virtual plants in a VR office environment on cognitive performance and the psychological wellbeing of test subjects.