Effects of the Use of Different Digital Media on the Assessment of Executive Functions Using the Tower of London, a Randomized Cross-over Trial

In the field of education and training, the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly educational technologies (EdTech), has increased significantly in recent years. Among these, the adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) is expanding rapidly. While recent studies emphasize the importance of considering individual differences in executive functions (EFs)-a set of cognitive processes involved in planning and regulating thoughts and actions-the aim of our study was to examine the impact of various digital media (digital tablets, VR with joystick, VR with hand-tracking, and conventional support) on EFs using the Tower of London task implemented on both tablet and VR platforms. A total of 48 participants (32 women and 16 men) completed the Tower of London test in all four conditions. Most participants were apprentices in the fields of sales and hairdressing, with no prior exposure to instruction using tablet-based or VR-based tools. Statistical analyses (t-test and Bayes repeated measurement) were conducted on several indicators, including the number of movements, problem-solving time, and the time-to-movement ratio. Among these, the latter emerged as the most informative, as it normalizes performance across the four experimental conditions. Data analysis revealed that performance with VR supports (both joystick -20.21- and hand-tracking -21.75) was lower compared to tablet use (13.33), Cohen’s d = 1.613 and 2.01. This difference may be explained by participants’ lack of familiarity with VR, which imposes greater cognitive demands (cognitive load) than the more conventional tablet interface. These findings suggest that, before integrating VR into educational settings, it is essential to ensure that students are sufficiently familiar with and comfortable using this technology. In other words, while VR represents a promising opportunity to enhance training, its implementation must carefully consider the limitations associated with learners’ executive functions.