The Impact of Creative Virtual Reality on Decision-Making and Emotion Regulation

Digital tools have been increasingly applied in the field of psychology and well-being, such as Virtual Reality (VR), that provides vivid and realistic illusions of environments and stimuli to users' senses. Currently, one of the possible applications of VR in the field of psychology is the stimulation of creativity. Stimulating creativity might indeed enhance emotional regulation and promote positive feelings, which in turn might influence cognitive processes and past autobiographical memories. The present study aimed at evaluating the benefits and changes related to a creative VR experience on emotion regulation and the decision made during unpleasant past events. 25 healthy volunteers were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) painting VR, 2) neutral control condition. Before the experience, all participants were asked to think about an unpleasant past decision. Pre and post the exposure, participants evaluated the past decision and how much they felt the decision was based on System 1 or System 2. Results showed that participants in the creativity condition rated themselves as significantly more curious and felt that their creativity was stimulated compared to the control group. Furthermore, participants in the creative VR changed the perception of the how much they used System 1 in their choices, when controlling for emotional intelligence. Lastly, the creative experience led participants to feel less satisfied with their previous decision, possibly because it induced creative reasoning on possible alternatives. Results highlighted that VR for creativity can enhance creative feelings and shape emotions and individual relationship with decision-making.