Empirical Studies on the Conditions of Achieving Interactive Mindfulness Through Virtual Reality Single User Experience in Macao

Virtual reality, a computer-generated 3D environment, allows one to navigate and possibly interact, resulting in real-time simulation of one or more of the user’s five senses (Gutierrez et al., 2008; Vince, 2004). Virtual tours and places have swiftly become popular in education, professional training, arts, exhibitions, and medication and rehabilitation. The empirical studies derived from the PhD thesis research aim to identify the conditions for Macao’s single-user experience to achieve mindfulness in virtual reality through immersion and interactivity.

The writers describe three spectrums on the levels of immersion, interactivity, and mindfulness-based on multiple definitions. For the empirical study, immersion and interaction are controlled experiment constants. As an international city in Southern China, we suggest four Macao experiment settings, addressing spiritual memory, historical memory, aesthetic appreciation, and idea meditation, collect qualitative and quantitative survey data. The collected data are analysed to improve virtual reality conditions for local mindfulness.