Investigating How Interaction with Physical Objects Within Virtual Environments Affects Knowledge Acquisition and Recall

This paper introduces a small-scale study that examines the utilization of a simple physical object as the primary interactive tool in a gamified educational virtual reality (VR) application. The study aims to evaluate the impact of passive haptics on the learning process within VR environments. The findings suggest that incorporating passive haptic interfaces in VR has the potential to enhance the learning experience and overall outcomes. Specifically, the results indicate that participants exhibited increased confidence when using a physical object (a jar) rather than traditional VR controllers. This confidence led to more accurate interactions, such as pouring liquids, and contributed to an enhanced sense of immersion. Additionally, results from recall tests suggest that participants demonstrated improved memory retention when knowledge was acquired through the haptic VR experience.