FAU’s Luke Rosedahl was part of a team that used VR to study whether physical movement influences how people learn to categorize information. Participants learned to recognize visual patterns using button presses or larger arm movements, such as swinging a virtual lightsaber. Larger movements significantly improved learning and accuracy for categories of learning requiring people to integrate multiple features, but provided no meaningful benefit for rule-based categories.

Participants that trained using larger movements retained their advantage even after switching to simple button presses. The findings could inform training for complex tasks that involve integrating information and recognizing patterns. Rosedahl has previously found that providing written instructions did not improve performance on such tasks. “Incorporating movement could offer a simple way to improve learning in situations where conventional approaches fall short,” says Rosedahl.

• Luke Rosedahl