Level of immersion affects spatial learning in virtual environments: results of a three-condition within-subjects study with long intersession intervals

• Published in: Virtual reality : the journal of the Virtual Reality Society Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 783 - 796
• Main Authors: Pollard, Kimberly A., Oiknine, Ashley H., Files, Benjamin T., Sinatra, Anne M., Patton, Debbie, Ericson, Mark, Thomas, Jerald, Khooshabeh, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01.12.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Between-subjects design; Computer Graphics; Computer Science; Image Processing and Computer Vision; Intervals; Laboratories; Learning; MR) and Immersive Learning Environments; Object recognition; S.I. : XR (VR; User Interfaces and Human Computer Interaction; Virtual environments; Virtual reality; Within-subjects design; Longitudinal design; Immersion; Spatial audio; Head-mounted display; Spatial learning; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 1359-4338; 1434-9957
• DOI: 10.1007/s10055-019-00411-y

Virtual reality and immersive technologies are used in a variety of learning and training applications. However, higher levels of immersion do not always improve learning. The mixed results in the literature may partly arise from the use of between-subjects designs, insufficient time intervals between sessions in within-subjects designs, and/or overreliance on binary comparisons of immersion levels. Our study examined the influence of three levels of audiovisual immersive technology on spatial learning in virtual environments, using a within-subjects design with long intersession intervals. Performance on object recognition and discrimination was improved in the highest immersion condition, whereas performance on directional bearings showed a U-shaped relationship with level of immersion. Examination of our data suggests that these results likely would not have been found had we used a between-subjects design or a binary comparison, thus demonstrating the value of our approach. Results suggest that different levels of immersion may be better suited to more or less cognitively complex types of spatial learning. We discuss challenges and opportunities for future work.