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Published on: March 10, 2021
Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Associative Memory Intervention Using Virtual Reality
Prince Ampofo1, Andrea Vitali1, Francesca Morganti1
1University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy.
Background:
Associative memory is essential for daily functioning; however, VR interventions in this domain are limited.
Objectives:
The present study examined associative memory in different modalities and investigated the effects of culture on performance and response time in a virtual environment.
Methods:
Twenty-two healthy younger adults from Italy and Ghana (ages 18-26) completed eight training trial sessions on object-name matching and object-sound matching tasks in a virtual environment.
Results:
Performance improved progressively across trials in both tasks, with greater accuracy and faster response times in the object-name task than in the object-sound task. Cross-cultural comparisons revealed no significant performance differences between the Ghanaians and Italians. However, the Italians completed both tasks significantly faster than the Ghanaians.
Conclusion:
The findings of the present study indicate that associative memory is culturally invariant, whereas response-time differences may reflect cultural influences on processing strategies. Overall, this study supports the use of VR as a culturally adaptable platform for associative memory assessment and training.
