Designing VR for Cognitive Load

Press/Media

Description

Cognitive Load theory looks at the burden on working memory that is felt by a learner during learning tasks.  It was first outlined by John Sweller and there is a more detailed explanation here.

It is especially important in immersive contexts because in a VR experience your brain is potentially trying to process the visual environment, hear an audio track, understand the hardware controls, understand the aim of the learning experience, process the knowledge being provided and respond all at the same time.  This means that it’s easy to miss key details (often the actual learning) in favour of all the noise around them.

This study by Dr Mu Mu, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton and Yoana Slavova an MSc postgraduate student from April 2018 compared learning in a conventional powerpoint to learning in VR.  I asked them some questions about their work.

Period7 Nov 2018

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleDesigning VR for Cognitive Load
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    Date7/11/18
    DescriptionCognitive Load theory looks at the burden on working memory that is felt by a learner during learning tasks. It was first outlined by John Sweller and there is a more detailed explanation here.

    It is especially important in immersive contexts because in a VR experience your brain is potentially trying to process the visual environment, hear an audio track, understand the hardware controls, understand the aim of the learning experience, process the knowledge being provided and respond all at the same time. This means that it’s easy to miss key details (often the actual learning) in favour of all the noise around them.
    URLhttps://3rsimmersive.com/designing-vr-for-cognitive-load/
    PersonsMu Mu