Slow-paced breathing training can be beneficial for physical and mental health. But only a few people do it regularly. Usually, such breathing training is conducted by following simple abstract guidance visualizations.

In their online experiment, Yanick X. Lukic, Shari Klein, Victoria Brügger, Olivia Clare Keller, Elgar Fleisch, and Tobias Kowatsch investigated whether a rich dynamic guidance visualization improves the training experience without impairing the desired effects.

The experiment with 170 participants found that a richer visualization significantly improves the training experience while maintaining the desired effects. In addition, they found that people with meditation experience perceived the richer visualization even more positively than people with little or no meditation experience. These findings help to enable engaging breathing training experiences.

Reference:

Lukic YX, Klein SS, Brügger V, Keller OC, Fleisch E, Kowatsch T. The Impact of a Gameful Breathing Training Visualization on Intrinsic Experiential Value, Perceived Effectiveness, and Engagement Intentions: Between-Subject Online Experiment. JMIR Serious Games 2021;9(3):e22803, doi: 10.2196/22803, PMID: 34519662

Visual Abstract