The role of affordance in the experience of virtual reality learning: Technological and affective affordances in virtual reality

As virtual reality becomes more and more mainstream, the role of affordances in virtual environments becomes an important question. The goal of this study is to explicate users' motivational affordances and examine how they influence the acceptance of a virtual reality learning environment (VLE). It examines how motivational affordances in an educational virtual reality (VR) system affect user experience to track and achieve goals for users. A multimixed approach was used by combining qualitative methods and a quantitative survey. First, a critical incident technique was used to explore a range of affordance factors related to VLE. Second, based on the affordance factors identified from the qualitative methods, a survey was conducted to examine the effects of affordance on user cognitive processes and the influence of affordance on the learning process. The results of the user model confirmed the heuristic role of presence and immersion affordance regarding their underlying link to educational affordances, such as empathy and embodied cognition. The findings imply the embodied cognition process of VLE in which technological qualities are shaped by users' perception and context. The results establish a foundation for VR technologies through a heuristic assessment tool from a user-embodied cognitive process. They confirm the validity and utility of applying affordances to the design of VR as a useful concept and prove that the optimum mix of affordances is crucial to the success of VR design. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.