Examining the Effect of Background Music on Learners’ Attention and Cognition in Virtual Reality Environments: A Psychophysiological Study

Virtual Reality (VR) enriches learning and instruction, while background music (BGM) is widely employed to modulate attention and cognition. Understanding how BGM influences learning in VR is essential for optimizing VR learning environments and has the potential to improve educational outcomes, yet this area remains largely unexplored. This study collected fifty-two participants’ self-reports, electroencephalogram signals, eye movements, heart rates, and interview responses to explore their attention and cognition during studying virtual heritage sites with and without BGM, while considering individual traits as influential factors. Results showed that with BGM, participants reported higher levels of engagement and demonstrated longer fixation duration on heritage sites’ image regions, than without BGM. Moreover, participants’ self-reported familiarity with the cultural heritage site and BGM listening frequency moderated the effect of BGM on attention and cognition in VR. This study offers implications for incorporating BGM for learning in VR, and designing personalized VR learning environments.