Scene memory is better for dynamic than static stimuli in immersive virtual reality

Poster Session C - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Anna S. L. Romero¹ (asromero@ualberta.ca), Milan Kalra¹, Peggy L. St. Jacques¹; ¹University of Alberta

Everyday events are formed in immersive 360-degree 3D settings, but little is known regarding how the dynamic aspect of such experiences influences memories. Dynamism can signal a meaningful change during everyday life that creates more distinctive events from our continuous experiences of the world. Here we explored the prediction that dynamism preferentially affects scene-related aspects of memory. Participants experienced 360-degree 3D immersive video events (e.g., a bathroom setting) in virtual reality while wearing an immersive VR headset. Half of the video events included a dynamic object in the scene (e.g., steaming iron), whereas the other half included a static version of a semantically similar object (e.g., iron turned off). An “Old”/ “New” recognition memory test followed, in which participants were cued by the dynamically manipulated object (e.g., iron). “Old” responses were then followed by additional questions assessing scene (setting name and object location) and object (recall two additional objects from the event) memory. The results indicated better recognition memory in the dynamic than static condition. Moreover, dynamic experiences were also associated with better scene memory compared to static experiences, however, there were no differences in object memory. Together these findings reveal that dynamic experiences contribute to better scene-related aspects of memories. More broadly, our findings exemplify how we can use immersive 360-degree experiences to manipulate the dynamic nature of the real world to investigate how we form and remember events.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic