Immersive Design Primitives and Decision-Making: A Systematic Review of Mechanisms and Outcomes

Immersive solutions are becoming a trending technology for decision support across fields such as transportation, healthcare, and urban planning. Despite their role, the mechanism by which they affect decision-making is unclear. Our study examines the design primitives in immersive technology that are manipulated to influence decision-making and synthesizes how they operate to shape decision outcomes. We follow PRISMA guidelines to search. A total of 198 studies were included. Eight primitive families were identified, including perceptual realism, environmental structure, interactivity, temporal simulation, embodiment, social presence, multisensory integration, and other contextual manipulations. Mechanisms through which they impacted decision-making were classified into cognitive, perceptual, affective, motivational, social-influence, and behavioral-heuristic mechanisms. Perceptual realism, environmental structure, and interactivity emerged as the most frequently investigated primitives, while presence, risk perception, spatial cognition, engagement, and social influence were among the most reported mechanisms. Our results suggest that immersive technologies function as decision-shaping systems that alter how users perceive uncertainty, risks, consequences, and alternatives, highlighting the need for theory-driven research and evaluation in high-stakes decision contexts.