The impact of visual and auditory distractions on the performance of neurodiverse students in virtual reality (VR) environments

“Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models (LMEM) to predict performance on each individual trial using the lme4 package in R (Bates et al. 2015).”

“While the consumer market is largely focused on the gaming industry, several companies and researchers have shown interest in exploring the use of VR in education (Checa and Bustillo 2020; Concannon et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2021; Jensen and Konradsen 2018; Rospigliosi 2022).”

“While the consumer market is largely focused on the gaming industry, several companies and researchers have shown interest in exploring the use of VR in education (Checa and Bustillo 2020; Concannon et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2021; Jensen and Konradsen 2018; Rospigliosi 2022).”

“VR shows promise to broaden participation in STEM by engaging learners in authentic but otherwise inaccessible learning experiences (Sylaiou et al. 2017; Mikropoulos and Natsis 2011; So and Brush 2008).”

“VR shows promise to broaden participation in STEM by engaging learners in authentic but otherwise inaccessible learning experiences (Sylaiou et al. 2017; Mikropoulos and Natsis 2011; So and Brush 2008).”

“While the consumer market is largely focused on the gaming industry, several companies and researchers have shown interest in exploring the use of VR in education (Checa and Bustillo 2020; Concannon et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2021; Jensen and Konradsen 2018; Rospigliosi 2022).”

“Furthermore, research involving neurodivergent individuals indicates differences in their performance on visual search tasks (O’Riordan et al. 2001; Seernani et al. 2021).”

“These issues are compounded by unequal access to and use of diagnostic resources as a function of social economic strata and cultural disparities in what behavior is considered problematic or disruptive (Rucklidge 2010; Russell et al. 2016; Shi et al. 2021).”

“As more VR headsets come on the market, research into the design of VR informal STEM education experiences is growing (e.g., Carrozzino et al. 2010; Fischer 2017; Garcia-Cardona, et al. 2017; Izzo 2017; Koterwas et al. 2018; Yung and Khoo-Lattimore 2019; Zhou et al. 2022).”

“These issues are compounded by unequal access to and use of diagnostic resources as a function of social economic strata and cultural disparities in what behavior is considered problematic or disruptive (Rucklidge 2010; Russell et al. 2016; Shi et al. 2021).”

“The work on this research team is guided by the ethos, “nothing about us without us” (Charlton 1998).”

“For example, a number of studies have found VR to be a promising tool for teaching and providing skills training for neurodivergent learners (Bashiri et al. 2017; Kalyvioti and Mikropoulos 2014; Parsons et al. 2004; Wang and Reid 2011).”

“While the consumer market is largely focused on the gaming industry, several companies and researchers have shown interest in exploring the use of VR in education (Checa and Bustillo 2020; Concannon et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2021; Jensen and Konradsen 2018; Rospigliosi 2022).”

“In addition, VR has been associated with a variety of symptoms and effects that may significantly impact neurodivergent learners such as cybersickness, visual fatigue, muscle fatigue, acute stress, and mental overload (Souchet et al. 2022).”

“Further research is needed, however, to understand how this novel technology can be used to motivate meaningful learning (Huang and Liaw 2018), particularly for neurodivergent learners (Lukava et al. 2022).”

“Visual search tasks have been studied extensively by cognitive psychologists over the past several decades to study how individuals are able to avoid distraction while completing a visual activity (Wolfe 2020).”

“The term quickly expanded to include differences in neurology associated with a range of diagnoses, including dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyscalculia, hyperlexia, dyspraxia, and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), among others (Silberman 2015).”

“For example, a number of studies have found VR to be a promising tool for teaching and providing skills training for neurodivergent learners (Bashiri et al. 2017; Kalyvioti and Mikropoulos 2014; Parsons et al. 2004; Wang and Reid 2011).”

“Neurodivergent learners may experience VR differently than neurotypical learners, depending on their unique profile of verbal use, executive function skills, expression of autism characteristics, and level of social anxiety (Parsons 2016).”

“In particular, VR is emerging as a promising tool for children with autism (Rogers 2019; Parsons et al. 2004; Goodwin 2008).”

“This would be in line with studies that have found differential impacts for noise across children with different attention profiles (Söderlund et al. 2010).”

“While the consumer market is largely focused on the gaming industry, several companies and researchers have shown interest in exploring the use of VR in education (Checa and Bustillo 2020; Concannon et al. 2019; Hamilton et al. 2021; Jensen and Konradsen 2018; Rospigliosi 2022).”

“These issues are compounded by unequal access to and use of diagnostic resources as a function of social economic strata and cultural disparities in what behavior is considered problematic or disruptive (Rucklidge 2010; Russell et al. 2016; Shi et al. 2021).”

“These differences may include visual and hearing impairments, mobility issues, sensory processing difficulties, and/or working memory and attention barriers, and many tend to be co-occurring (Zablotsky et al. 2017; Davis and Kollins 2012).”

“As more VR headsets come on the market, research into the design of VR informal STEM education experiences is growing (e.g., Carrozzino et al. 2010; Fischer 2017; Garcia-Cardona, et al. 2017; Izzo 2017; Koterwas et al. 2018; Yung and Khoo-Lattimore 2019; Zhou et al. 2022).”

“These differences may include visual and hearing impairments, mobility issues, sensory processing difficulties, and/or working memory and attention barriers, and many tend to be co-occurring (Zablotsky et al. 2017; Davis and Kollins 2012).”

“For example, a number of studies have found VR to be a promising tool for teaching and providing skills training for neurodivergent learners (Bashiri et al. 2017; Kalyvioti and Mikropoulos 2014; Parsons et al. 2004; Wang and Reid 2011).”

“On the one hand, advocates of the neurodiversity movement prioritize self-identification and a move away from the medical model (Sarrett 2016).”

“In a classroom study (Kanakri et al. 2017), teachers found noise control to be an important issue for neurodivergent learners, with many of their students opting for the use of hearing protection.”

“However, neurodivergent individuals experience barriers in STEM learning experiences, such as sensory processing differences, distractibility, and social anxiety (Hutson and Hutson 2022; Kulik and Fletcher 2016; Little et al. 2014).”

“VR enables different audiences, including people with disabilities, to access and interact in an engaging and informative way (Walczak et al. 2006).”

“On the other hand, some of these tools have been critiqued for seeking to “normalize” autistic individuals while disregarding their strengths and preferences (Williams and Gilbert 2020).”

“For example, some have found that for children diagnosed with ADHD, the presence of white noise reduced omission rates on a No/Go task (Baijot et al. 2016).”

“The impact of distractions can also differ across modalities (Parmar et al. 2021; Top et al. 2019).”

“Distractions can adversely impact the performance of a wide range of cognitive processing profiles, especially those of neurodivergent individuals who may be more attuned to noticing novel stimuli (Vivanti et al. 2017).”

“Finally, there are great individual differences across the abstract label of neurodiversity (as is true of more clinical terms such as autism spectrum disorder and ADHD) and a high degree of heterogeneity in how individuals experience and respond to stimuli (Clince et al. 2016).”

“…when the background sound takes on the form of white noise—sounds that occur when a large variety of audible frequencies played at a constant intensity—individuals with ADHD often exhibit improved speed of word recognition, speech recognition, word recall, and attention (Pickens et al. 2019).”

“One common feature of neurodiversity involves differences in the subjective experience of stimulus intensity (Gaines et al. 2014; Martin and Wilkins 2022; Zolyomi and Snyder 2021).”

“VR shows promise to broaden participation in STEM by engaging learners in authentic but otherwise inaccessible learning experiences (Sylaiou et al. 2017; Mikropoulos and Natsis 2011; So and Brush 2008).”

“Moreover, media and stimuli that may seem innocuous to a neurotypical onlooker could be deeply disruptive to those who have sensory sensitivities (Morgan 2019).”

“While many of these negative symptoms impact a broad range of users, their impact on neurodivergent individuals tends to be greater (Schmidt et al. 2021; Souchet et al 2022).”

“However, neurodivergent individuals experience barriers in STEM learning experiences, such as sensory processing differences, distractibility, and social anxiety (Hutson and Hutson 2022; Kulik and Fletcher 2016; Little et al. 2014).”

“Further research is needed, however, to understand how this novel technology can be used to motivate meaningful learning (Huang and Liaw 2018), particularly for neurodivergent learners (Lukava et al. 2022).”

“As more VR headsets come on the market, research into the design of VR informal STEM education experiences is growing (e.g., Carrozzino et al. 2010; Fischer 2017; Garcia-Cardona, et al. 2017; Izzo 2017; Koterwas et al. 2018; Yung and Khoo-Lattimore 2019; Zhou et al. 2022).”

“One common feature of neurodiversity involves differences in the subjective experience of stimulus intensity (Gaines et al. 2014; Martin and Wilkins 2022; Zolyomi and Snyder 2021).”

“For example, Neisser (1964) has used displays of letters, words, and images to investigate information and visual processing.”

“For example, a number of studies have found VR to be a promising tool for teaching and providing skills training for neurodivergent learners (Bashiri et al. 2017; Kalyvioti and Mikropoulos 2014; Parsons et al. 2004; Wang and Reid 2011).”

“This effect may have important implications because high visual clutter has been found to negatively impact student performance in the classroom (Godwin et al. 2022).”

“In addition, the larger impact of distractors on participant performance is in line with other visual search studies involving neurodiverse populations (Canu et al. 2021).”

“Furthermore, while some people may say they desire certain types of extraneous information present while completing tasks (e.g., music or video), previous research has shown that individuals’ stated preferences do not always align with their performance (Wilson et al. 2018).”

“In prior work by the authors (Dahlstrom-Hakki and Alstad 2019), a similar discrepancy was observed between students’ stated preferences and performance.”

“Codesigners not only informed the design of this project but also helped shape every aspect of the work from initial idea generation, to prototyping, feedback elicitation, design research cycles, to final product (Dahlstrom-Hakki et al. 2021; Edwards et al. 2022).”

“However, neurodivergent individuals experience barriers in STEM learning experiences, such as sensory processing differences, distractibility, and social anxiety (Hutson and Hutson 2022; Kulik and Fletcher 2016; Little et al. 2014).”

“As more VR headsets come on the market, research into the design of VR informal STEM education experiences is growing (e.g., Carrozzino et al. 2010; Fischer 2017; Garcia-Cardona, et al. 2017; Izzo 2017; Koterwas et al. 2018; Yung and Khoo-Lattimore 2019; Zhou et al. 2022).”

“As an example, recent work focused on learning and distractions in virtual reality environments have described involvement of neurodiverse co-designers throughout the planning and design process (Dahlstrom-Hakki et al., 2024).”

“33 92 The neurophysiological impact of digital strain appears to be topography-specific depending on the immersion level.”

“Researchers have investigated the potential of emerging technologies, such as IVR, to support students with dyslexia in educational settings (Dahlstrom-Hakki et al., 2024; Henriksen et al., 2023; Hussain et al., 2023; Rodríguez-Cano et al., 2021; Vecino et al., 2021).”

“Immersive VR limits extraneous distractions from the surrounding environment [36,37].”

“Early objective assessments mainly depended on uni-modal system log data, including basic behavioral metrics such as task success rate and response time [34], [39].”

“For populations susceptible to sensory overload, such as neurodiverse learners, the sensory isolation provided by VR exerts a protective effect [7], [8].”

“Ample evidence exists that neurotypical individuals rely more heavily on one sense compared to the others when performing specific inference on social information, with vision being the sense that is considered the most reliable for a large variety of perceptual tasks like the discrimination of age, emotion and identi…”