Effectiveness of mindfulness to reduce spatial anxiety and improve spatial navigation with and without virtual reality support

Spatial navigation is pivotal for orientation in both familiar and unfamiliar environments. Internal factors, such as spatial anxiety, can potentially influence this process. Mindfulness, a psychological intervention, has demonstrated efficacy in reducing anxiety. Consequently, this study investigates the novel application of mindfulness training in virtual reality on spatial anxiety and its correlation with spatial navigation, aiming to propose interventions that could mitigate spatial anxiety and enhance navigational capability. The current experiment incorporated assessment time points at baseline and post-treatment after 4 weeks. A total of 42 students were randomly allocated to either ‘virtual reality mindfulness’, ‘audio mindfulness’, or ‘active control’ (listening). Repeated measures ANOVAs and mediation analyses were conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the training. The results suggest that both virtual reality and audio mindfulness effectively reduce spatial anxiety and bolster spatial orientation. Furthermore, an improvement in therapy adherence and appraisal was observed when integrating virtual reality nature with mindfulness training. Path analysis further revealed that a reduction in spatial anxiety mediated the effect of mindfulness training on one’s spatial navigational ability. The findings of this study indicate that long-term daily exposure to virtual reality mindfulness and audio mindfulness for 10 min each, compared to listening, can effectively reduce spatial anxiety and enhance spatial navigational ability.