New paper - Experiencing nature, virtually
Virtual reality could be a powerful complement to real nature experiences, but we must harness the technology wisely.
As part of her PhD on the connections between people and nature, Violeta Berdejo-Espinola has published a perspective article in the prestigious journal Nature Human Behaviour. Violeta argues that we need much more research on virtual experiences of nature so that we can harness their benefits while avoiding the pitfalls.
Given the increasing sophistication of virtual reality systems in providing immersive nature experiences, there is so much potential for analogous health benefits to those that arise from real nature experiences.
In the article, we call for research to better understand the human–nature–technology interaction to overcome potential pitfalls of the technology and design tailored virtual experiences that can deliver health outcomes and wellbeing across society.