Emotional Evocation in Virtual Reality: Evaluating Japanese Psych-Mimetic Word Learning System

This study investigates the potential of using virtual reality (VR) technology to induce emotions that correspond to Japanese psych-mimetic words. Considering the complexities of learning these words, previous work [1] has developed a VR system tailored for psych-mimetic word education. By crafting immersive scenes that evoke specific emotions, the system is designed to help learners internalize the feelings associated with these words. Therefore, it is vital to confirm the system’s effectiveness in eliciting emotional responses from learners, through formative evaluation combining eye-tracking data analysis from VR headsets with semi-structured interviews conducted in the VR scenes. From both objective and subjective perspectives, this study investigates whether participants can experience emotions that align with the psych-mimetic words portrayed in the VR scenes. The results suggest that participants can generate the intended emotions within these VR scenes. This study intends to conduct future studies further examine the system’s impact on the educational outcomes of Japanese psychmimetic words. The current findings offer robust empirical evidence supporting the use of VR technology in language education.