This study used virtual reality to examine how environmental attributes interact with health communication to influence psychiatric help-seeking behavior, using the example of a subway station. We used a 2 × 2 factorial design crossing two noise conditions (high noise [75 dB] or low noise [30 dB]) and two visual clutter conditions (low clutter [a tidy trash can and orderly construction materials] or high clutter [scattered trash and construction materials]). We found that participants in the high (vs. low) visual clutter condition reported lower cognitive capacity levels, and there was a significant correlation between cognitive capacity and message elaboration. However, we found no effects of noise conditions. Serving as a proof-of-concept study to investigate the contexts in which environmental stressors may influence information processing, this study contributes to the field of health communication environmental design research. Clinical Trial Registration: https://osf.io/rsa48.
Keywords: cognitive capacity; message elaboration; noise; psychiatric help-seeking; virtual reality; visual clutter.