Connecting Embodied Embedded Cognition to Learning Comparing Visuospatial Memory in Augmented and Virtual Space
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2018-07-01
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en
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Abstract
Interaction with the environment has been essential in the
development of the human brain and in the molding of our current world.
The spatial insight that the brain provides us with, such as the location of
objects and the mapping of the local landscape, enables us to navigate and
to analyze the world for opportunity and danger. Currently due to the rise
of different technologies, such as smartphones, its applications, and virtual
reality, humans tend to find themselves straying away from this
environment and increasingly submerge in the digital space. Hence,
knowing how this transition influences cognitive capabilities is socially
and scientifically prominent. To explore this influence, an experiment was
conducted in which I measured the influence of embodied embedded
cognition on spatial memory in a fully digital manner and augmented
reality (AR). AR was used as a comparison, because it is considered
biased towards reality and has potential educational benefits. The
exploration was done in the the game Concentration, while measuring the
subject’s time needed, the number of errors, the number of steps, and the
Euclidean distance between the selected card and the correct card of each
step in the two conditions of gameplay (two-dimensional space (2D) and
AR). The experiment showed that gameplay does not affect a subject’s
performance on neither of the dependent variables. This indicates that
embodied embedded cognition does not influence spatial memory, which
is surprising since several studies found positive correlation between
memory and the increase of interaction in the form of augmented reality.
This conflict suggests that there are alternative explanations for the current
findings. There are two prominent explanations for the findings. One
explanation states that the methods used for this experiment were not
suited to expose the influence of embodied embedded cognition on spatial
memory. It claims that the conditions of gameplay, regardless of their
varying perceptual and interactive richness, do not influence spatial
memory. The other explanation states that the influence embodied
embedded cognition has on spatial memory was not visible in this
experiment, because it influences a unknown variable.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen