Embodied Gathering: Integrating Performative Interactions and Knowledge-Driven Agents for Virtual Living Heritage

The core value of living cultural heritage lies in dynamic group interactions and contextually embedded rituals. However, traditional virtual reality (VR) heritage applications tend to emphasize high-fidelity spatial reconstruction, often failing to convey these deeper social frameworks. Although embodied interaction is widely used to enhance immersion, physical actions can easily become decontextualized without historical guidance, which weakens their role in meaning construction. Grounded in dual coding theory, embodied cognition, and social agency theory, this study proposes the Action-Context Synergistic Coding Framework , which integrates embodied action mapping, spatial contextual reconstruction, and knowledge-driven digital literati agents. The framework is instantiated through Embodied Gathering , a VR system that reconstructs ancient Chinese literati gatherings through eight cultural activity scenes and four knowledge-driven agents. We conducted a \(2\times 2\) between-subjects experiment ( \(N=24\) ) and adopted a mixed-methods analysis that combined spatial behavior telemetry, trajectory and dwell heat maps, cognitive maps, questionnaire measures, and interview data. The results suggest that digital literati helped improve social presence and understanding of cultural meanings, while embodied interaction supported the user's shift from passive viewing to active participation and the formation of action-related cultural anchors in spatial memory. When combined, the two components were associated with a more culturally directed pattern of socialized roaming and a trend toward greater gains in cultural closeness. In general, this study provides an integrative design framework for the digital reconstruction of complex cultural heritage as a social practice and offers an exploratory mixed-methods approach for evaluating spatial behavior, social presence, and cultural memory in virtual heritage experiences.