Examining the impact of immersion, graphic detail, and habituation on preschoolers’ learning outcomes with virtual reality

Resumen

In a previous study (Dall’Olio et al., 2024), we observed that preschool children who viewed a presentation in immersive virtual reality (IVR) had significantly poorer learning outcomes than those who viewed the presentation in a less immersive desktop virtual reality (D-VR) condition. One possible explanation is that IVR may cause too much cognitive load therefore impairing learning. The two follow-up studies discussed in this paper once again compared IVR and D-VR, but this time with a view of two factors that may reduce the cognitive load of IVR: the level of detail of the presentation (high detail/low detail) and the viewer’s habituation to the medium (habituated/not habituated). In the first study, we investigated whether the learning outcomes of a presentation delivered to 159 preschool children aged four to six years differed based on the levels of detail and immersion (IVR/D-VR). Contrary to our hypotheses, we observed no significant impact of detail or immersion, nor was there any significant interaction between these two features. In the second study, we compared the learning outcomes of 72 preschool children with different levels of habituation to the medium used. Again, contrary to our hypotheses, we found no significant impact of medium habituation and immersion and no interaction between these two variables. We report inconclusive evidence here and suggest that further research is needed. Specifically, future studies should examine additional factors that may influence learning outcomes, as well as the effects of different IVR methods in varied learning situations, and with children of different ages.

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Dall'Olio, L., Amrein, O., & Martarelli, C. (2024). Examining the impact of immersion, graphic detail, and habituation on preschoolers’ learning outcomes with virtual reality. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/e72ht