Virtual memory palaces: immersion aids recall

By Eric Krokos, Catherine Plaisant, Amitabh Varshney. Virtual Reality, 2018

501 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Virtual reality displays, such as head-mounted displays (HMD), afford us a superior spatial awareness by leveraging our vestibular and proprioceptive senses, as compared to traditional desktop displays. Since classical times, people have used memory palaces as a spatial mnemonic to help remember information by organizing it spatially and associating it with salient features in that environment. In this paper, we explore whether using virtual memory palaces in a head-mounted display with head-tracking (HMD condition) would allow a user to better recall information than when using a traditional desktop display with a mouse-based interaction (desktop condition). We found that virtual memory palaces in HMD condition provide a superior memory recall ability compared to the desktop condition. We believe this is a first step in using virtual environments for creating more memorable experiences that enhance productivity through better recall of large amounts of information organized using the idea of virtual memory palaces.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Human-Computer Interaction

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f9232df5e1d7d65ba8b62ae28cf03292b40c2a57

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

1. Ali Arya
2. Tim A. Majchrzak
3. Anthony Scavarelli
4. Robert J. Teather

In Human-Computer Interaction

1. Jennifer Fromm
2. Ali Arya
3. Tim A. Majchrzak
4. Jaziar Radianti
5. Anthony Scavarelli
6. Robert J. Teather
7. Isabell Wohlgenannt

Citations in the corpus

• Virtual reality and augmented reality in social learning spaces: a literature review (2020, background): “…that memory recollection is closely associated with environment (Chun and Jiang 1998, 2003; Smith 1979), and the power to rec-reate these “spatial contexts” as virtual spaces (or virtual environments) in VR/AR has great potential to help in the form of virtual “memory palaces” (Krokos et al. 2018).”
• A systematic review of immersive virtual reality applications for higher education: Design elements, lessons learned, and research agenda (2020, background): “A study suggests that students retain more information and can better apply what they had learned after participating in VR exercises (Krokos, Plaisant, & Varshney, 2019).”