Exploratory fNIRS Assessment of Differences in Activation in Virtual Reality Visual Self-Expression Including With a Fragrance Stimulus

A within-subjects experimental design examined differences in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) assessment of prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation with two virtual reality (VR) drawing conditions (rote tracing and creative self-expression) with and without a fragrance stimulus. Participants were healthy adults and included 18 women, 6 men: age range = 18-54 years. Findings indicate significant differences such that rote tracing resulted in higher PFC activity than the creative self-expression task. Although there was no significant impact of fragrance on the overall sample, emergent differences in responsiveness to fragrance were seen by age and gender. The study suggests that repetitive tasks like rote tracing can enhance focus and the creative self-expressive tasks can reduce PFC load and induce relaxation and flow.

Automated summary

The study investigated differences in PFC activation during two VR drawing conditions with and without fragrance stimulus, finding that rote tracing resulted in higher PFC activity than creative self-expression. Age and gender were observed to impact responsiveness to fragrance.