The "bizarre" object effect in Virtual Reality: A comparative serial recall study

Working memory experiments are typically conducted in minimal settings. Virtual Reality (VR) enables a more immersive and ecologically valid approach to such experiments. In a serial recall study, we investigated working memory performance in classical computer and VR setups. We conducted the task with typically and atypically colored animal stimuli to investigate the bizarreness, or typicality effect. We manipulated the stimuli dimension, presenting the animals in two and three dimensions. In each trial, stimuli appeared in set sizes varying from four to eight items, where the percentage of atypical animals also varied. Our results demonstrate overall consistency across the classical and VR environments, showing better performance in smaller stimuli set sizes. Having more typically colored animals in a memory set improved participant performance, while the dimension of presented stimuli played no significant role. This sheds light on the role of frequency of atypical items within a memory set. Furthermore, our results show that VR technology can replicate traditional computer-based cognitive tasks without impacting task performance.