The environment constantly provides sensory input, affecting the way individuals perceive and process information. Factors like noise, distractors, and the characteristics of the stimuli impact the ability to focus on specific tasks and can influence cognitive performance, culminating in traditional research experimental psychology research being done mostly in minimalistic environments. Controlling natural phenomena, such as weather patterns, ambient lighting, or spatial configurations can present significant challenges to researchers seeking to isolate specific variables for systematic investigation, making some investigations impractical and others unfeasible. However, the synthetic recreation of environments with Virtual Reality (VR) has engendered a paradigm shift in experimental methodologies, affording investigators the capability to mimic and modulate environmental conditions with unprecedented precision, through the generation of highly controlled experimental scenarios. We present evidence on visual contrast and weather disturbances on words recognition speed and error rates using this technique, fostering virtual immersion to approximate laboratory conditions to ecological.