An opinion article titled “Beyond immersion: distinguishing cognitive change from VR-supported performance” by SMU Professor of Psychology Yang Hwajin, SMU students Hanzel Kho and Caitlin Tay, and SMU postgraduate student Zoey K. Y. Eun was published in Frontiers in Virtual Reality. In the article, the researchers proposed a presence–load decision matrix to distinguish genuine cognitive change from performance supported by the immersive environment itself. They argued that virtual reality supports cognitive performance only when its task-relevant contribution exceeds the extraneous load it adds, and called for studies to distinguish immediate performance from transfer and long-term maintenance.
Read the article here.