Brain Activity and Psychological Feelings on Four Types of Vicarious Leisure Experiences

摘要

This study investigated the brain responses when watching four experience videos referring to Educational, Entertainment, Esthetic, and Escapist experiences, a 4E model proposed by Pine and Gilmore in 1998. Twenty-seven healthy participants were recruited from college students. EEG data is recorded along with an eye-tracker recording participants' interests of areas in the videos. Respondents also answered a questionnaire measuring their vicarious leisure experiences (3 items per video) when watching the four videos: making paper yourself, performing a joyful song, endless fields of flowers, doing bungee jumping activity. Results of questionnaires showed that respondents did have the four types of leisure experiences when watching the four videos. Analyses of data from the eye-tracker supported the nomological validity of the experiment. The EEG power value of entertainment and esthetic is higher than the other two videos on the frontal brain region in delta rhythm, and the EEG power value of escapist video is the lowest among the four videos. Theta FCz, theta CPz, and theta P3 had significantly higher power values induced by the entertainment video than by the escapist video. The findings of this study supported the hypothesis that different leisure experiences can be reflected in various patterns of brain responses.