The Vibrotactile Paradox: Corrective and Reenforcing Feedback in Educational VR

This study pursues two goals. First, to investigate the relationship between vibrotactile feedback and sense of presence in VR. Second, to better understand the ways in which corrective and reenforcing feedback can influence STEM learning outcomes in a VR environment called [Looking Inside Cells]. The VR experience consists of a tutorial and two learning activities. The first level, “Build a cell”, relies on corrective feedback. The second level, “Mitosis” employs reenforcing feedback. A vibration in the Build level signals a mistake. A vibration in Mitosis rewards the learner for correct actions. We ran a within-subject design experiment (N = 68) in which participants got randomly assigned to a vibrotactile and non-vibrotactile condition. We tested two hypotheses: Participants with a higher sense of presence achieve higher post assessment scores. Participants in the vibrotactile-condition report higher sense of presence ratings compared to the non-haptic condition. Results indicate that vibrotactile feedback increases the sense of presence and impacts metacognition, which might influence learning outcomes. Participants who received corrective feedback as a vibrotactile stimuli are more likely to underestimate their actual test performance but report higher satisfaction compared to the non-vibrotactile condition. The results highlight the importance of haptic feedback in VR environments. This study might help guide engineers and designers in creating beneficial VR experiences by considering the affordances of the medium and the cognitive mechanisms underlying human computer interaction.