Virtual Experiences, Real Memories? A Study on Information Recall and Recognition in the Metaverse

There are high expectations towards extended reality (XR), namely the “metaverse”. However, human performance in the metaverse has been called into question when undertaking everyday activities (e.g., working, shopping, and learning etc.), as complex human-technology interaction required may hinder cognitive abilities such as processing of information. Therefore, this study attempts to address whether and how XR impacts abilities to recall and recognize information in daily-life settings. We investigated the effects of VR and AR in a 2 (VR: yes vs. no) × 2 (AR: yes vs. no) between-subjects design experiment related to a shopping task (N = 153) on textual (product names) and pictorial (product pictures) recognition and recall. The results show that textual information recall and pictorial information recognition did not significantly suffer in XR compared to shopping in a brick-and-mortar store. While regarding textual information recognition performance, the results show that fully physical environments offered the highest performance compared to the different XR technologies being used. Overall, the study provides important findings and guidance for the use of extended reality technologies in consumer-facing businesses, as well as the use of XR in everyday life in general.