Research on Memory Support through Manipulation of Environmental Context Using Virtual Reality

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K19784
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 61:Human informatics and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kuzuoka Hideaki 東京大学, 大学院情報理工学系研究科, 教授 (10241796)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鳴海 拓志 東京大学, 大学院情報理工学系研究科, 准教授 (70614353)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: バーチャルリアリティ / 環境的文脈 / 文脈依存記憶 / アバタ / マルチ文脈効果 / 視覚的忠実度 / 遠隔講義

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we organized the factors that provide VR-specific environmental context as (1) virtual environment, (2) other avatar, and (3) self-avatar, and examined the effects of each on memory. Specifically, we investigated the reinstatement effect, in which recall is enhanced under the same environmental context as at the time of memorization, and the multiple context effect, in which retention performance is improved by memorization under a variety of environmental contexts, as representative effects caused by the environmental context-dependence of memory in the VR experience. We then summarized the design method of the environmental context for memory support methods that take advantage of the characteristics of each factor and points to note when utilizing them, and proposed multiple memory support methods and demonstrated their effectiveness.

Free Research Field

バーチャルリアリティ

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では，VRを活用することでこれまで現実世界での実験では統制することが難しかった環境的文脈情報を統制可能な実験系を実現し，特に自己や他者の外見の影響という全く新しい観点から環境的文脈記憶研究に新規性の高い知見を提供した点で学術的意義は高い．また，教育やトレーニング分野においてメタバースの活用が進められる中で，メタバースならではの効率的な学習方法を提案した点に社会的意義がある．