Virtual reality and news games: investigating immersion’s influence on long-term memory

The current media environment is characterized by an overwhelming amount of information and easy access to it, making it increasingly challenging for individuals to retain information in their memory. And raises the likelihood that important information requiring attention will be overlooked or fail to leave a lasting impression. To address these challenges, this study proposes that combining narrative news games with virtual reality (VR) can enhance the immersive experience that both mediums offer. For example, this approach could improve situational memory and reduce the bystander effect. In previous studies, we explored four types of VR games: VR games narrated with text (VRIT group), VR games with animated narration (VR group), non-VR games narrated with text (NVR group), and non-VR games with animated narration (NVRIT group). This paper presents the findings of an additional experiment designed to assess how well subjects retained the content of the news games over an extended period (3 years). The study also analyzes the changes in the data of correct and incorrectness checking of the confidence reports of the four groups after a long period of time. The results demonstrate that the combination of virtual reality technology and narrative news games leaves a lasting impression on participants, even after a significant time has passed. The findings further suggest that immersion is directly proportional to the level of empathy: the higher the level of empathy, the more relevant information is retained, and the more likely participants are to take relevant actions.