This special collection on “Advances in Research on Learning in Immersive Virtual Reality” edited by Jeremy N. Bailenson and Richard E. Mayer provides the latest installment of empirical research on learning academic material in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The articles were written by a group of scholars who have well over a century of experience of combined empirical work specializing in understanding the processes and outcomes of using the medium. The collection includes three genres of IVR research: media comparison studies, which compare learning in IVR versus learning the same content with conventional media; value-added studies, which compare learning in IVR versus learning in the same IVR environment with one feature added; and consequences studies, which observe learning in IVR over an extended time period. The research in this special collection yields three research themes: (1) media comparison studies show that learning in IVR is not always more effective than learning with conventional media, (2) value-added studies show that there are some ways that make learning in IVR more effective and some ways that do not, and (3) consequences studies show that it may be useful to examine changes in learners over longer terms. Overall, progress is being made in understanding how learning works in virtual environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
