We continue our study from [5], of how concepts that have hierarchical structure might be
represented in brain-like neural networks, how these representations might be used to recognize
the concepts, and how these representations might be learned. In [5], we considered simple
tree-structured concepts and feed-forward layered networks. Here we extend the model in two
ways: we allow limited overlap between children of different concepts, and we allow networks to
include feedback edges. For these more general cases, we describe and analyze algorithms for
recognition and algorithms for learning.
more »
« less
Virtual Reality as a Context for Adaptation
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated interest in virtual reality (VR) for education, entertainment, telerehabilitation, and skills training. As the frequency and duration of VR engagement increases—the number of people in the United States using VR at least once per month is forecasted to exceed 95 million—it is critical to understand how VR engagement influences brain and behavior. Here, we evaluate neurophysiological effects of sensory conflicts induced by VR engagement and posit an intriguing hypothesis: the brain processes VR as a unique “context” leading to the formation and maintenance of independent sensorimotor representations. We discuss known VR-induced sensorimotor adaptations to illustrate how VR might manifest as a context for learning and how technological and human factors might mediate the context-dependency of sensorimotor representations learned in VR.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10357673
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers in Virtual Reality
- Volume:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2673-4192
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
more » « less
ABSTRACT Research from brain science and the learning sciences support the notion that human cognition is grounded in our sensorimotor engagement with the physical world and that processes of learning can be shaped by our movements and actions. Increasing recognition that effective educational interventions can be seeded with embodied actions is paralleled by recent and rapid advances in sensing and motion capture technologies. These advances allow for a new wave of cyberlearning environments that permit learners to use their bodies to create and manipulate digital representations of core ideas in a variety of learning domains. Drawing on the research literature on embodied cognition and design principles for creating effective embodied educational simulations, we present the design of a cyberlearning platform called ELASTIC3S. We describe the design rationale and preliminary data from a small empirical study of the ELASTIC3S platform that address the potential for enhancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and engagement through embodied interaction.
-
Virtual reality (VR) has a high potential to facilitate education. However, the design of many VR learning applications was criticized for lacking the guidance of explicit and appropriate learning theories. To advance the use of VR in effective instruction, this study proposed a model that extended the cognitive-affective theory of learning with media (CATLM) into a VR learning context and evaluated this model using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. Undergraduate students ( n = 77) learned about the solar system in a VR environment over three sessions. Overall, the results supported the core principles and assumptions of CATLM in a VR context (CATLM-VR). In addition, the CATLM-VR model illustrated how immersive VR may impact learning. Specifically, immersion had an overall positive impact on user experience and motivation. However, the impact of immersion on cognitive load was uncertain, and that uncertainty made the final learning outcomes less predictable. Enhancing students’ motivation and cognitive engagement may more directly increase learning achievement than increasing the level of immersion and may be more universally applicable in VR instruction.more » « less
-
Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) received enormous attention in recent years due to significant improvements in voice communication technologies and the convergence of different research fields such as Machine Learning, Internet of Things, and Virtual Reality (VR). Interactive conversational IVAs can appear in different forms such as voice-only or with embodied audio-visual representations showing, for example, human-like contextually related or generic three-dimensional bodies. In this paper, we analyzed the benefits of different forms of virtual agents in the context of a VR exhibition space. Our results suggest positive evidence showing large benefits of both embodied and thematically related audio-visual representations of IVAs. We discuss implications and suggestions for content developers to design believable virtual agents in the context of such installations.more » « less
-
We continue our study from Lynch and Mallmann-Trenn (Neural Networks, 2021), of how concepts that have hierarchical structure might be represented in brain-like neural networks, how these representations might be used to recognize the concepts, and how these representations might be learned. In Lynch and Mallmann-Trenn (Neural Networks, 2021), we considered simple tree-structured concepts and feed-forward layered networks. Here we extend the model in two ways: we allow limited overlap between children of different concepts, and we allow networks to include feedback edges. For these more general cases, we describe and analyze algorithms for recognition and algorithms for learning.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2021.733076
