Virtual Flood Experience Enhances Preparedness Through Emotional and Neural Engagement

ABSTRACT

As climate change intensifies flood risks, strengthening individual preparedness is essential for sustainable societies. This study tested whether first‐person three‐dimensional computer graphics (3DCG) flood videos can complement official flood maps in motivating preparedness. We used these materials as operationalizations of experiential and descriptive information, respectively. In a preregistered web experiment with 1000 participants, those who viewed flood videos showed a small but statistically significant increase in preparedness intentions compared with those who viewed flood maps. Mediation analyses showed that, among the measured psychological variables, only fear had a significant indirect effect, suggesting that stimulus‐evoked fear helped explain this increase. We also conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with 45 participants using a within‐subjects design. Flood videos elicited greater right amygdala activation than flood maps, consistent with fear‐related processing. Together, these findings provide convergent behavioral and neural evidence that first‐person 3DCG flood videos evoke stronger fear‐related responses than flood maps and that subjective fear helps account for their effect on preparedness intentions. The results suggest that visually vivid flood videos may complement map‐based communication by increasing emotional salience and promoting flood‐preparedness intentions.