Independent component EEG analysis reveals spectral correlates of emotional and cognitive processing in immersive VR environments

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful medium for eliciting emotional states in controlled yet immersive conditions, making it valuable in affective neuroscience and human-computer interaction research. Thus, VR enables multisensory experiences that enhance the sense of presence and immersion of users, which are key factors in modulating affective responses. Building on these capabilities, a recent study developed a protocol for inducing emotions in VR while simultaneously recording electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, with the goal of constructing a database for future research in emotion recognition (Marques Valderrama et al., 2023). Although the authors provided a detailed description of their experimental design and scenario development, the EEG recordings collected through this protocol remained unanalysed. In the present study, we conduct an in-depth analysis of this dataset. The objective of this study is to characterize the EEG signatures associated with distinct emotional states elicited by immersive VR scenarios and explore their potential for computational modelling in automatic emotion recognition systems.