Electrophysiological correlates of contextual retrieval following virtual reality and desktop-based encoding

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR)-based encoding has been proposed to improve episodic memory retrieval compared to desktop (PC)-based encoding, but behavioral evidence remains inconsistent. Potentially, VR- and PC-based encoding affect the retrieval processes involved in recognition differently, rather than overall memory performance. Building on prior research, the present study investigated whether memory retrieval incorporates the encoding modality (VR vs. PC) as contextual information bound to the stimulus when accounting for additional task-related contextual information. To this end, participants encoded everyday objects in both VR and PC settings, with the encoding task varying across objects. A later recognition memory test involved old/new judgments of the encoded objects and source identifications of the encoding modality and task. Memory performance was similar across encoding modalities and relatively low, showing no advantage for recognition or source attribution following VR-based encoding. At the neural level, both VR- and PC-based memory traces elicited similar FN400 old/new effects, indicating comparable familiarity-related contributions. The LPC old/new effect was significant only for VR-encoded items, whereas the direct VR–PC comparison was not. Source-sorted LPN analyses yielded slightly different patterns descriptively, but the direct comparison did not establish a difference between modality- and task-source sorting. Although direct modality-specific effects were limited, the results are compatible with previous studies indicating that VR-based encoding may be associated with relatively greater recollection-related retrieval processes.