Daejeon, July 27–31
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) preservation and transmission has become a key focus in the field of digital humanities. ICH transmission involves both the preservation of external manifestations and the conveyance of inherent cultural significance and historical value. Unlike tangible heritage, ICH is a bodily process that integrates material and symbolic elements to express meaning, with cultural significance emerging from the multi-layered contexts of people, artifacts, and environments(Koya / Chowdhury 2020). ICH knowledge exhibits strong "embodied" characteristics, which require hands-on practice in specific contexts. Traditional documentation methods (text, images, video) have limitations in conveying tacit knowledge. This often results in superficial understanding and difficulties in establishing systematic connections between material carriers and cultural significance.
Immersive VR technology provides new pathways for ICH transmission and education. VR creates realistic 3D environments supporting natural interaction, fostering presence and embodied experiences. Users can enter historical scenes and participate in virtualized craft processes(Barbara 2022), overcoming the limitations of traditional master-apprentice transmission(Li 2023) and creating new ICH learning spaces.
Research indicates VR environments provide precise motion demonstrations and real-time guidance for ICH skill learners, significantly enhancing knowledge acquisition, interactive experiences, and engagement(Li et al. 2023). Researchers have focused on designing VR applications for ICH education, digital preservation, and dissemination, proposing approaches such as gamified design(Miao et al. 2022), immersive design with motion capture(Li et al. 2023), embodied experiential design(Wang et al. 2025), and virtual reality narrative scenarios(Yu et al. 2025).
Other studies examine user experience and cognitive mechanisms in VR environments, providing a scientific foundation for quantifying VR user experience. Researchers employ controlled experiments to compare the effects of VR with different media(Duan et al. 2025), utilize biosensing technology to monitor physiological responses in VR(Haider et al. 2025), and assess the usability of cultural heritage VR systems through scales such as PQ, SSQ, and SUS(Lucifora et al. 2024). Regarding cognitive enhancement, VR experiences effectively enhance user interest and understanding of cultural heritage(Wu / Wang 2025). Immersion shows a strong positive correlation with knowledge dissemination(Xu et al. 2025). However, VR environments compete with working memory for cognitive resources, leading to significantly lower working memory accuracy compared to traditional media(Duan et al. 2025). Regarding emotional responses, VR environments significantly amplify users' emotional reactions(Duan et al. 2025), foster emotional and spatial immersion(Elwardy et al. 2025), strengthen social cohesion through cultural heritage experience(Lucifora et al. 2024) and elicit distinct physiological response patterns corresponding to different emotional arousal states based on varying cognitive and sensory demands(Haider et al. 2025).
Overall, existing research focuses on specific VR design elements and user experience measurements, validating the value of VR in knowledge and skill dissemination. However, it lacks a systematic analysis of how ICH VR fulfills its digital transmission and educational functions, particularly regarding users' cognitive construction processes and the embodied nature of ICH.
Therefore, this study aims to explore the structural characteristics and construction processes of users' ICH cognition within VR environments, addressing the following research questions:
RQ1: Does VR enhance users' breadth and depth of understanding regarding ICH?
RQ2: How does cognitive enhancement unfold during VR experiences, and what characteristics emerge in epistemic networks?
RQ3: What role does embodied interaction play in the cognitive construction process, and how does it interact with cognitive development?
This study selected ancient Chinese woodblock printing as a representative example of ICH. Guided by Bloom's Taxonomy (cognitive objectives), iconography theory (VR element design), and embodied cognition theory (interaction guidance), a VR experimental environment was developed with three progressive modules: "story viewing," "question-based assessment," and "interactive operation." This design systematically guides users from knowledge memorization and comprehension to application and analysis, exploring the underlying cognitive construction mechanisms.
A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining semi-structured interviews (pre- and post-experience), think-aloud protocols (during experience), and questionnaires. Between April and July 2025, 51 participants (23 males, 28 females) with diverse academic backgrounds (humanities, social sciences, STEM) were recruited. Stratified sampling ensured a balanced distribution: Regarding woodblock printing knowledge, 23 participants possessed strong prior knowledge while 28 were unfamiliar with the topic. Concerning VR experience, 25 participants had prior VR exposure and were relatively familiar with the technology, while 26 had no prior VR experience. For participants without prior VR experience, pre-screening for VR sickness symptoms was conducted, and those reporting VR sickness were excluded from the study.
Data were analyzed using coding content analysis and epistemic network analysis (ENA). Content analysis was employed to extract coding dimensions such as cognitive content, cognitive outcomes, and bodily sensations from interview transcripts, while ENA examined changes in users' cognitive structures. Interview transcripts were coded using deductive-inductive methods. Four randomly selected interviews were collaboratively coded by two authors using MAXQDA to establish initial tags and categories. Disagreements were resolved through discussion with the fifth author. Integrating insights from intangible cultural heritage research(Cai 2022; Zhang 2020) and Bloom's learning theory refined the three-tier labeling system. Based on embodied cognition, iconography, and Bloom's taxonomy, the secondary category relationships were constructed, and the primary category framework was extracted to form an initial coding framework.
The first author coded six additional texts, with new concepts discussed by all three authors. No new concepts emerged in the final two rounds, resulting in a framework consisting of 3 primary categories, 6 secondary categories, and 39 tertiary tags. The remaining texts were independently coded by three trained coders. Consistency checks continued until Holsti's coefficient exceeded 0.8, ensuring coding reliability.
After obtaining the final coding results, ENA was conducted to examine code co-occurrence relationships to construct and visualize epistemic network models(Shaffer et al. 2016). The specific procedure is as follows: Using user experiment stages as grouping criteria, codes served as ENA analysis nodes. Imported into ENA Webkit, where co-occurrence relationships among cognitive types, outcomes, and physical experiences were computed. By analyzing changes in node weights and co-occurrence patterns, the structural characteristics and construction processes of ICH cognition were explored. ENA's built-in quantitative analyses (independent samples t-tests, variance analyses) validated the significance and interpretability of the findings.
Key research conclusions are as follows:
Users develop two core perception types in VR environments: "Perceiving the Material," which involves recognizing physical elements such as craft processes, materials, and environments, and "Perceiving the Culture," which focuses on understanding historical value, social significance, transmission methods, and artisan qualities. The VR environments significantly expanded both cognitive dimensions: pre-experience cognition centered on solely value evaluation, while post-experience cognition formed a comprehensive network integrating material elements (materials, form, techniques) and cultural dimensions (ethnicity, identity, transmission).
Cognitive depth evolved from simple evaluation to a system encompassing memory, understanding, application, evaluation, creation, and metacognition. Concurrently, VR heightened users' interest in woodblock printing and strengthened their willingness for on-site experiences and ICH preservation.
VR facilitated systematic cognitive progression from basic to complex levels, transforming material manipulation into cultural-emotional engagement. Epistemic network analysis shows: From pre-experience to VR phases to post-experience, the Epistemic network's center of mass forms a counterclockwise circular pattern, indicating stable linear enhancement.
Specifically, Each phase emphasizes distinct cognitive characteristics in progressive sequence: pre-experience cognition centers on value evaluation; narrative viewing is memory-dominated with initial acquisition of abstract and cultural knowledge; knowledge assessment consolidates memory with deeper material knowledge integration; interactive operation focuses on application, fostering creative abilities and accomplishment; post-experience develops integrated cognition blending complex knowledge with cultural affect. This trajectory—from memory to innovation, abstract to concrete, and singular to hybrid cognition—demonstrates the systemic enhancement of ICH cognition by VR.
Users construct two types of bodily sensations in VR experiences. The first is the "technological body"—the perceptible and actionable virtual bodily representation gained through VR equipment, encompassing perspective, perception, position, and ownership. The second is the “cultural body”, referring to the perceived sociocultural roles and identities through the embodiment of the technological body. Together, they form an embodied mediation that generates immersion, presence, and participation, influencing cognitive construction processes.
Embodied interaction plays a pivotal role at three levels: culturally, VR guides users to anchor bodily immersion and presence to cognitive understanding of ICH history, techniques, and bearers' identities through realistic environments; materially, active participation integrates operational steps with historical contexts; and bodily, users engage through digital avatars, acquiring detailed skills that connect Piaget's action schemas with ICH techniques to develop symbolic schemas, driving cognitive advancement from memorization to application.
The study's theoretical contributions manifest in three aspects: deepening understanding of VR cognitive construction mechanisms by revealing progression from memorization to integrated cognition; expanding embodied cognition theory in ICH by uncovering links between bodily experience and cultural cognition; and enriching digital ICH transmission assessment methods. Practical implications recommend a progressive design model integrating cultural immersion, knowledge consolidation, and practical application, combining VR with traditional methods and incorporating hands-on elements to enhance cognitive development and cultural identity.
The study has limitations, focusing solely on woodblock printing with a short-term design. Future research should expand samples to compare cognitive differences across ICH types, adopt long-term tracking to examine sustained VR effects, and explore how interaction methods influence cognitive development.