Learning Novel Words in an Immersive Virtual‐Reality Context: Tracking Lexicalization Through Behavioral and Event‐Related‐Potential Measures

Abstract The present study used immersive virtual‐reality (iVR) technology to simulate a real‐life environment and examined its impact on novel‐word learning and lexicalization. On Days 1–3, Chinese‐speaking participants learned German words in iVR and traditional picture–word (PW) association contexts. A semantic‐priming task was used to measure word lexicalization on Day 4, and again 6 months later. The behavioral findings of an immediate posttest showed a larger semantic‐priming effect on iVR‐learned words compared to PW‐learned words. Moreover, electrophysiological results of the immediate posttest demonstrated significant semantic‐priming effects only for iVR‐learned words, such that related prime–target pairs elicited enhanced N400 amplitude compared to unrelated prime–target pairs. However, after 6 months, there were no differences between the iVR and PW conditions. The findings support the embodied‐cognition theory and dual‐coding theory and suggest that a virtual real‐life learning context with multimodal enrichment facilitates novel‐word learning and lexicalization but that these effects seem to disappear over time.