When learning an environment from virtual navigation people gain knowledge about landmarks, their locations, and the paths that connect them. The present study newly aimed to investigate all these domains of knowledge and how cognitive factors such as visuospatial abilities and wayfinding inclinations might support virtual passive navigation. A…

Virtual reality (VR) applications are developing rapidly, becoming more and more affordable, and offer various advantages for learning contexts. Dynamic visualizations are generally suitable for depicting continuous processes (e.g., different movement patterns), and particularly dynamic virtual 3D-objects can provide different perspectives on the…

Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human faces, real and manipulated, considering two factors of…

When a visual search target frequently appears in one target-rich region of space, participants learn to search there first, resulting in faster reaction time when the target appears there than when it appears elsewhere. Most research on this location probability learning (LPL) effect uses 2-dimensional (2D) search environments that are distinct…

Studies have demonstrated that visual-spatial skills correlate with student performance and success in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The ability to reason with spatial information is essential for conceptual subjects like chemistry, a deep understanding of which requires dealing with the invisible world of atoms and molecules…

Visual working memory (VWM) is typically measured using arrays of two-dimensional isolated stimuli with simple visual identities (e.g., color or shape), and these studies typically find strong capacity limits. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) experts are tasked with reasoning with representations of three-dimensional (3D)…

Haptic perception is used in the anatomy laboratory with the handling of three-dimensional (3D) prosections, dissections, and synthetic models of anatomical structures. Vision-based spatial ability has been found to correlate with performance on tests of 3D anatomy knowledge in previous studies. The objective was to explore whether haptic-based…

This study connects to an ongoing discussion about the limits and affordances of simulators as realistic and relevant contexts for professional learning, in this case in the development of visual expertise. Earlier studies of simulator-based maritime pilot training conclude that there are risks associated with so-called negative skills transfer…

Research suggests that sensorimotor difficulties in autism could be reduced by providing individuals with explicit contextual information. To test this, we examined autistic visuomotor control during a virtual racquetball task, in which participants hit normal and unexpectedly-bouncy balls using a handheld controller. The probability of facing…

In an authentic flight simulator, the instructor is traditionally located behind the learner and is thus unable to observe the pilot's visual attention (i.e. gaze behaviour). The focus of this article is visual attention in relation to pilots' professional learning in an Airbus A320 Full Flight Simulator. For this purpose, we measured and analysed…

It can be difficult for some students to learn three-dimensional anatomical structure concepts. While virtual reality (VR) systems have been reported as helpful for learning, there has been scarce research on either VR teaching strategies or the influence of visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) in the context of large anatomy classes (i.e.,…

Purpose: Virtual reality (VR) technologies have expanded their application domains towards education with pedagogical benefits including fully immersive learning environment and in-depth user engagement through scenario-based virtual simulations. Motion sickness (MS), however, has become one of the long-standing key challenges of the VR…

Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to enhance visual cognition through virtual object experimentation and practice, while also fostering spatial skills relevant to mathematics. This experimental study was conducted with 86 sixth graders in Eastern China, involving a 3-month AR integrated Mathematics Curriculum (ARiMC), with pre- and…

The aim of the present study was to explore the learning usability factors of 3D modeling in virtual reality environment (VRE). Users' 3D modeling usability factors in VR were investigated through principal component analysis (PCA). Fifty industrial design students participated in the 3D modeling learning in VR experience experiment, and their…

In line with the attention-to-affect model, this study employed a game that encompasses Gestalt perception to explore how extraneous cognitive load (ECL) and gameplay anxiety correlate with attitude towards exploitative learning and attitude towards explorative learning as students play the Visual-Saliency game (VSG) with images of artworks. The…