Transcendental Avatar: Experiencing Bioresponsive Avatar of the Self for Improved Cognition

Transcendental Avatar is a virtual reality (VR) system focused on stress relief to support relaxation techniques, using biofeedback, a well-known therapy technique to improve physical and mental health. Biofeedback as a method uses visual and audio feedback of one's physiology to reflect, recognize, and help one gain awareness of many physiological functions, improving their cognitive and emotional state. Yet, there has been little work on how this can be appropriately leveraged in virtual reality (VR). In Transcendental Avatar, we proposed a system that shows the personification of the avatar, reflecting in real-time user's biofeedback to enhance their cognitive and emotional state. In this study, we examine whether stress, and self-reported anxiety symptoms can be relieved or reduced by the proposed immersive experience.