Immersive Ars Memoria: Evaluating the Usefulness of a Virtual Memory Palace

Abstract

The Method of Loci (also memory palace) is the most powerful mnemonic strategy and was widely analyzed over the last twenty years. Especially, the approach to combine this ancient learning method with modern technology got more and more into the focus of an interdisciplinary research community. Researchers presented their students virtual environments via computer screen or head-mounted displays and instructed them to use these virtual worlds as a template for a memory palace. However, most studies did not investigate the users' attitude to actually use such a tool in everyday situations. This study addresses this research gap by an experiment and a correlation and regression analysis. Results show significant correlations between the learning success and important factors of the users intention to use a virtual memory palace.

Development of a Virtual Reality Memory Maze Learning System for Application in Social Science Education

“…Huttner and Robra-Bissantz [40] used virtual reality to simulate memory palaces for the user to memorize words. The results show that users with HMDs have a higher recall rate than those with laptops.…”

Spatial Mnemonics for L2 Vocabulary Recall. Customized Training for 21st Century Students

“…b) AR/VR-enhanced spatial environment for L2 training: a systematic review Literature review of scholarly publications demonstrated that spatial presence in VR and AR positively influences content retention in learners (Gupta, 2016;Huttner and Robra-Bissantz, 2017;Vazquez et al 2018;Cho, 2018;Parmaxi & Demetriou, 2020;Huang et al, 2021). Participants can memorize sequential order of events or information by location either inside a synthetic environment or by interaction with 3D object in the real world (Patel & Vij, 2010;Järvinen & Verschure, 2011;Yang et al, 2020).…”

“…Participants can memorize sequential order of events or information by location either inside a synthetic environment or by interaction with 3D object in the real world (Patel & Vij, 2010;Järvinen & Verschure, 2011;Yang et al, 2020). The role of mnemonics in the overall learning process can be found in the first level of Bloom's revised taxonomy of learning according to which, the first level is defined as remembering followed by understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Krathwohl 2002;Huttner and Robra-Bissantz, 2017). The term mnemonics comes from Greek mnéemee (memory) and téchnee (art).…”

“…(Yang et al, 2021). The idea to integrate mnemonic methods into the students' curriculum was originally suggested by Levin and Levin (1990) however, such strategies were not fully welcomed in the teaching community (Putnam 2015;Huttner and Robra-Bissantz, 2017). Either spatial mnemonics or AR/VR may improve an individual's ability to recall information, however while mnemonics focuses on units of meaning (textual or numerical), AR/VR provides an interactive visual environment that presumably reinforces learning.…”

“…As stated by Moè & De Beni (2005), application of the method of loci involves first selecting a series of distinct loci along a familiar pathway; then, creating an image for each item to be remembered or, if applied to passages, for each cue word corresponding to a concept; and finally placing images of the items in the selected loci and retrieving them mentally when retracing the loci pathway in the recall phase. According to Huttner and Robra-Bissantz (2017), on such a tour any simple object like a chair, cupboard or table can serve as an adequate locus.…”