[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

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

  • S.I. : XR (VR, AR, MR) and Immersive Learning Environments
  • Published:
Virtual Reality Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
£29.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (United Kingdom)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Alexander AL, Brunyé T, Sidman J, Weil SA (2005) From gaming to training: a review of studies on fidelity, immersion, presence, and buy-in and their effects on transfer in pc-based simulations and games. DARWARS Training Impact Group 5:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Andre AD, Wickens CD (1995) When users want what’s not best for them. Ergon Des 3:10–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreasen A, Geronazzo M, Nilsson NC et al (2019) Auditory feedback for navigation with echoes in virtual environments: training procedure and orientation strategies. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Gr. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2019.2898787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baylor A, Ryu J, Shen E (2003) The effects of pedagogical agent voice and animation on learning, motivation and perceived persona. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), pp 452–458

  • Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y (1995) Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Stat Soc Ser B (Methodol) 57:289–300

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Bhagat KK, Liou W-K, Chang C-Y (2016) A cost-effective interactive 3D virtual reality system applied to military live firing training. Virtual Real 20:127–140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-016-0284-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boccia M, Rosella M, Vecchione F, Tanzilli A, Palermo L, D’Amico S, Piccardi L (2017) Enhancing allocentric spatial recall in pre-schoolers through navigational training programme. Front Neurosci 11:574

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowman DA, McMahan RP (2007) Virtual reality: how much immersion is enough? Computer 40:36–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowman DA, Sowndararajan A, Ragan ED, Kopper R (2009) Higher levels of immersion improve procedure memorization performance. In: Joint virtual reality conference of EGVE-ICAT-EuroVR

  • Brown RB (2016) Enhancing realistic training: delivering training capabilities in a complex world. Combined Arms Centers, Ft Leavenworth

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson G, Caporusso N (2019) A physically immersive platform for training emergency responders and law enforcement officers. In: Nazir S, Teperi A-M, Polak-Sopińska A (eds) Advances in human factors in training, education, and learning sciences. Springer, Berlin, pp 108–116

  • Chandrasiri A, Collett J, Fassbender E, Foe AD (2019) A virtual reality approach to mindfulness skills training. Virtual Real. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-019-00380-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cho Y (2018) How spatial presence in VR affects memory retention and motivation on second language learning: a comparison of desktop and immersive VR-based learning. Thesis, Syracuse University

  • Christou C, Tzanavari A, Herakleous K, Poullis C (2016) Navigation in virtual reality: comparison of gaze-directed and pointing motion control. In: 2016 18th mediterranean electrotechnical conference (MELECON), pp 1–6

  • Craig SD, Gholson B, Driscoll DM (2002) Animated pedagogical agents in multimedia educational environments: effects of agent properties, picture features and redundancy. J Educ Psychol 94:428–434. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.94.2.428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cummings JJ, Bailenson JN (2016) How immersive is enough? a meta-analysis of the effect of immersive technology on user presence. Med Psychol 19:272–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2015.1015740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darken RP, Peterson B (2002) Spatial orientation, wayfinding, and representation. In: Stanney KM (ed) Human factors and ergonomics. Handbook of virtual environments: Design, implementation, and applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, p. 493–518

  • Davis ET, Scott K, Pair J et al (1999) Can audio enhance visual perception and performance in a virtual environment? Proc Hum Factors Ergon Soc Annu Meeting 43:1197–1201. https://doi.org/10.1177/154193129904302206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Files BT, Oiknine AH, Thomas J et al (2019a) Same task, different place: Developing novel simulation environments with equivalent task difficulties. In: Proceedings of applied human factors and ergonomics

  • Files BT, Pollard KA, Oiknine AH, Passaro AD, Khooshabeh P (2019b) Prevention focus relates to performance on a loss-framed inhibitory control task. Front Psychol 10:726

    Google Scholar 

  • Frechette C, Moreno R (2010) The roles of animated pedagogical agents’ presence and nonverbal communication in multimedia learning environments. J Media Psychol Theor Methods Appl 22(2):61–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Government Accountability Office USGAO (2016) Army training: efforts to adjust training requirements should consider the use of virtual training devices

  • Horowitz J (2018) Walmart buys 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets to train a million employees. https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/20/walmart-buys-17000-oculus-go-vr-headsets-to-train-a-million-employees/

  • Hsieh T-J (Tracy), Kuo Y-H, Niu C-K (2018) Utilizing HMD VR to improve the spatial learning and wayfinding effects in the virtual maze. HCI International 2018 – Posters’ Extended Abstracts 38–42

  • Huang Y, Churches L, Reilly B (2015) A case study on virtual reality American football training. In: Proceedings of the 2015 virtual reality international conference. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 6:1–6:5

  • Jeelani I, Han K, Albert A (2017) Development of immersive personalized training environment for construction workers. Comput Civil Eng 2017:407–415. https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784480830.050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeffs TL (2010) Virtual Reality and Special Needs. Themes Sci Technol Educ 2:253–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson L, Becker SA, Cummins M et al (2016) NMC horizon report: 2016 higher education edition. The New Media Consortium

  • Kasap Z, Magnenat-Thalmann N (2012) Building long-term relationships with virtual and robotic characters: the role of remembering. Vis Comput 28:87–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Khooshabeh P, Choromanski I, Neubauer C et al (2017) Mixed reality training for tank platoon leader communication skills. In: 2017 IEEE virtual reality (VR), pp 333–334

  • Kraemer DJ, Schinazi VR, Cawkwell PB, Tekriwal A, Epstein RA, Thompson-Schill SL (2017) Verbalizing visualizing and navigating: the effect of strategies on encoding a large-scale virtual environment. J Exp Psychol Learn Memory Cognit 43:611

    Google Scholar 

  • Krokos E, Plaisant C, Varshney A (2018) Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall. Virtual Real. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-018-0346-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landers RN (2014) Developing a theory of gamified learning: linking serious games and gamification of learning. Simul Gaming 45:752–768

    Google Scholar 

  • Landers RN, Landers AK (2014) An empirical test of the theory of gamified learning: the effect of leaderboards on time-on-task and academic performance. Simul Gaming 45:769–785

    Google Scholar 

  • Lányi CS, Geiszt Z, Károlyi P et al (2006) Virtual reality in special needs early education. Int J Virtual Real 5:55–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee KM, Nass C (2005) Social-psychological origins of feelings of presence: creating social presence with machine-generated voices. Media Psychol 7:31–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis T (2017) Virtual reality helps reinvent law enforcement training. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/virtual-reality-law-enforcement-training/

  • Mania K, Chalmers A (2001) The effects of levels of immersion on memory and presence in virtual environments: a reality centered approach. Cyber Psychol Behav. https://doi.org/10.1089/109493101300117938

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mania K, Troscianko T, Hawkes R, Chalmers A (2006) Fidelity metrics for virtual environment simulations based on spatial memory awareness states. In: http://dx.doi.org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/10.1162/105474603765879549. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doix/abs/10.1162/105474603765879549. Accessed 22 Feb 2019

  • Markowitz DM, Laha R, Perone BP et al (2018) Immersive virtual reality field trips facilitate learning about climate change. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahan RP, Bowman DA, Zielinski DJ, Brady RB (2012) Evaluating display fidelity and interaction fidelity in a virtual reality game. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Gr 18:626–633

    Google Scholar 

  • McMahan RP, Lai C, Pal SK (2016) Interaction fidelity: the uncanny valley of virtual reality interactions. In: Virtual, augmented and mix reality (VAMR 2016) Lecture notes in computer science 9740:59–70

  • Mizell DW, Jones SP, Slater M, Spanlang B (2002) Comparing immersive virtual reality with other display modes for visualizing complex 3D geometry. University College London, technical report

  • Moreno R, Mayer RE (2000) Engaging students in active learning: the case for personalized multimedia messages. J Educ Psychol 92:724–733. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.92.4.724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreno R, Mayer RE (2004) Personalized messages that promote science learning in virtual environments. J Educ Psychol 96:165–173. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morey RD (2008) Confidence intervals from normalized data: a correction to Cousineau (2005). Tutorial Quant Methods Psychol 4:61–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Mori M, MacDorman KF, Kageki N. (2012) The uncanny valley. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine June 2012:98-100

  • Moss JD, Austin J, Salley J et al (2011) The effects of display delay on simulator sickness. Displays 32:159–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.displa.2011.05.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mossel A, Froeschl M, Schoenauer C, et al (2017) VROnSite: towards immersive training of first responder squad leaders in untethered virtual reality. In: 2017 IEEE virtual reality (VR), pp 357–358

  • Nys M, Gyselinck V, Orriols E, Hickmann M (2015) Landmark and route knowledge in children’s spatial representation of a virtual environment. Front Psychol 5:1522

    Google Scholar 

  • Oiknine A, Files B, Pollard KA (2019) Web-based measurement of directional bearings (angular distance). CCDC-Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, pp 1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Parong J, Mayer RE (2018) Learning science in immersive virtual reality. J Educ Psychol 110:785–797. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton D (2014) How real is good enough? Assessing realism of presence in simulations and its effects on decision making. In: Schmorrow DD, Fidopiastis CM (eds) Foundations of augmented cognition. Advancing human performance and decision-making through adaptive systems. Springer International Publishing, Berlin, pp 245–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Patton D, Gamble K (2016) Physiological measures of arousal during soldier-relevant tasks performed in a simulated environment. Foundations of augmented cognition: neuroergonomics and operational neuroscience. Springer, Cham, pp 372–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Picciano AG (2002) Beyond student perceptions: issues of interaction, presence, and performance in an online course. J Asynchronous Learn Netw 6:20

    Google Scholar 

  • Ragan ED, Scerbo S, Bacim F, Bowman DA (2017) Amplified head rotation in virtual reality and the effects on 3D search, training transfer, and spatial orientation. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Gr 23(8):1880–1895. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2016.2601607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Regan C (1995) An investigation into nausea and other side-effects of head-coupled immersive virtual reality. Virtual Real 1:17–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Rumiński D (2015) An experimental study of spatial sound usefulness in searching and navigating through AR environments. Virtual Real 19:223–233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-015-0274-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schomaker J, Meeter M (2015) Short- and long-lasting consequences of novelty, deviance and surprise on brain and cognition. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 55:268–279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.05.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharples S, Cobb S, Moody A, Wilson JR (2008) Virtual reality induced symptoms and effects (VRISE): comparison of head mounted display (HMD), desktop and projection display systems. Displays 29:58–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.displa.2007.09.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shu Y, Huang Y-Z, Chang S-H, Chen M-Y (2018) Do virtual reality head-mounted displays make a difference? A comparison of presence and self-efficacy between head-mounted displays and desktop computer-facilitated virtual environments. Virtual Real. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-018-0376-x

  • Siegel AW, White SH (1975) The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments. In: Reese HW (ed) Advances in child development and behavior. JAI, pp 9–55

  • Sinatra AM, Oiknine AH, Patton D et al (2019) Development of cognitive transfer tasks for virtual environments and applications for adaptive instructional systems. In: Lecture notes in computer science. Springer, Orlando

  • Sintia R (2018) The U.S. military wants to lead the innovation game in VR. US News https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-03-20/the-us-military-wants-to-lead-the-innovation-game-in-vr

  • Slater M, Wilbur S (1997) A framework for immersive virtual environments (FIVE): speculations on the role of presence in virtual environments. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 6:603–616

    Google Scholar 

  • Sousa Santos B, Dias P, Pimentel A et al (2009) Head-mounted display versus desktop for 3D navigation in virtual reality: a user study. Multimed Tools Appl 41:161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-008-0223-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stansfield S, Shawver D, Sobel A (1998) MediSim: a prototype VR system for training medical first responders. In: Proceedings of IEEE 1998 virtual reality annual international symposium (Cat. No. 98CB36180), pp 198–205

  • Stern E, Leiser D (1988) Levels of spatial knowledge and urban travel modeling. Geogr Anal 20:140–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens J, Kincaid P, Sottilare R (2015) Visual modality research in virtual and mixed reality simulation. J Def Model Simul. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548512915569742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Summers JE (2012) Simulation-based military training: an engineering approach to better addressing competing environmental, fiscal, and security concerns. J Wash Acad Sci 98:9–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Swindells C, Po BA, Hajshirmohammadi I et al (2004) Comparing CAVE, wall, and desktop displays for navigation and wayfinding in complex 3D models. In: Proceedings computer graphics international, 2004. pp 420–427

  • Taillade M, Sauzéon H, Pala PA, Déjos M, Larrue F, Gross C, N’Kaoua B (2013) Age-related wayfinding differences in real large-scale environments: detrimental motor control effects during spatial learning are mediated by executive decline? PLoS ONE 2013(8):e67193

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor GS, Barnett JS (2013) Evaluation of wearable simulation interface for military training. Hum Factors 55:672–690. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720812466892

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorndyke PW, Hayes-Roth B (1982) Differences in spatial knowledge acquired from maps and navigation. Cogn Psychol 14:560–589

    Google Scholar 

  • Tong X, Gromala D, Gupta D, Squire P (2016) Usability comparisons of head-mounted vs. stereoscopic desktop displays in a virtual reality environment with pain patients. Stud Health Technol Inform 220:424–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Tse A, Jennett C, Moore J, et al (2017) Was I there: impact of platform and headphones on 360 video immersion. ACM, pp 2967–2974

  • van der Ham IJM, Faber AME, Venselaar M, van Kreveld MJ, Löffler M (2015) Ecological validity of virtual environments to assess human navigation ability. Front Psychol 6:637

    Google Scholar 

  • von der Pütten AM, Krämer NC, Gratch J (2009) Who’s there? Can a virtual agent really elicit social presence? Paper presented at the 12th Annual International Workshop on Presence Los Angeles CA

  • Walker AD, Carpenter TL, Moss JD et al (2009) The evaluation of virtual environment training for a building clearing task. In: Proceedings of the human factors and ergonomics society annual meeting. https://doi.org/10.1177/154193120905301809

  • Waller D, Hunt E, Knapp D (1998) The transfer of spatial knowledge in virtual environment training. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 7:129–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Dunston PS, Skibniewski M (2004) Mixed reality technology applications in construction equipment operator training. In: Proceedings of the 21st international symposium on automation and robotics in construction (ISARC 2004), September 2125, Jeju, Korea, pp 393–400

  • Wang N, Johnson WL, Mayer RE, Rizzo P, Shaw E, Collins H (2008) The politeness effect: pedagogical agents and learning outcomes. Int J Hum Comput Stud 66:98–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Warton DI, Hui FKC (2011) The arcsine is asinine: the analysis of proportions in ecology. Ecology 92:3–10. https://doi.org/10.1890/10-0340.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei L, Zhou H, Nahavandi S (2018) Haptically enabled simulation system for firearm shooting training. Virtual Real. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-018-0349-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson M (2016) The effect of varying latency in a head-mounted display on task performance and motion sickness. Dissertation, Clemson University

  • Witmer BG, Bailey JH, Knerr BW (1995) Training dismounted soldiers in virtual environments: route learning and transfer (Technical Report 1022): U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

  • Zhong JY, Moffat SD (2016) Age-related differences in associative learning of landmarks and heading directions in a virtual navigation task. Front Aging Neurosci 8(122):1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Z, Cheok AD, Yang X, Qiu Y (2004) An experimental study on the role of 3D sound in augmented reality environment. Interact Comput 16:1043–1068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2004.06.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Jason Moss and Antony D. Passaro who contributed to the conceptualization and development of the study, and Bianca Dalangin who helped conduct the study. This work was funded by the United States Army Research Laboratory’s Human Sciences Campaign. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Army Research Laboratory or U.S. Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Los Angeles, USA

    Kimberly A. Pollard, Benjamin T. Files & Peter Khooshabeh

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

    Ashley H. Oiknine & Peter Khooshabeh

  3. DCS Corporation, Los Angeles, USA

    Ashley H. Oiknine

  4. Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center – Simulation and Training Technology Center, Orlando, USA

    Anne M. Sinatra

  5. Combat Capabilities Development Command Data and Analysis Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, USA

    Debbie Patton

  6. Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, USA

    Mark Ericson

  7. Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    Jerald Thomas

Authors
  1. Kimberly A. Pollard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ashley H. Oiknine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Benjamin T. Files
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Anne M. Sinatra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Debbie Patton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Mark Ericson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Jerald Thomas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Peter Khooshabeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kimberly A. Pollard.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study, in accordance with Title 32, Part 219 of the CFR and Army Regulation 70-25.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pollard, K.A., Oiknine, A.H., Files, B.T. et al. Level of immersion affects spatial learning in virtual environments: results of a three-condition within-subjects study with long intersession intervals. Virtual Reality 24, 783–796 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-019-00411-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-019-00411-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation