# An Experimental Exploration of Cognitive Workload and Situational Awareness in Virtual Reality: Implications for Non‐Clinical Emotional Support

## TL;DR

This study explores how virtual reality affects mental workload and awareness during tasks, suggesting VR could help with emotional support without causing high stress.

## Contribution

The study introduces real-time monitoring of cognitive workload and situational awareness in VR using eye-tracking data.

## Key findings

- VR environments may reduce the impact of high task difficulty on cognitive workload.
- Participants maintained consistent situational awareness in VR regardless of task difficulty.
- Eye-tracking metrics like pupil diameter, fixation, and saccade durations were used to assess cognitive states in VR.

## Abstract

Many people face emotional challenges without meeting the criteria for clinical mental disorders. Virtual Reality (VR) has become popular in psychotherapy due to accessibility, but it can sometimes increase cognitive workload (CWL) and decrease situational awareness (SA). This study addresses the need for continuous user monitoring by assessing CWL and SA in real‐time using eye‐tracking.

Twenty‐one participants performed cognitive tasks of varying difficulty in both virtual and real‐world environments, allowing direct comparison of the same task difficulty across the two environments. Pupil diameter, fixation, and saccade duration data were collected.

Pupil diameter results showed that VR environment may be associated with a reduced effect of high task difficulty on participants' CWL. Fixation and saccade durations results indicated that participants could maintain the same level of SA and engagement in the VR environment regardless of the task difficulty.

These findings provide insights into the effects of VR on CWL and SA, which may inform future research exploring VR's potential in clinical populations.