The study examined age-related differences in behavioural and ocular strategies to search for information during web navigation within a website as a function of prior domain knowledge (high level vs low level) of users and search problem complexity (simple vs difficult problems). 23 older adults and 20 young adults had to answer ten search problems in two domain knowledge within two experimental websites (one for each domain): health and fantasy movies. In each domain, participants had to complete three simple problems (the main words of the instructions corresponded to links on the menu bar) and seven complex problems (the main words in the instructions were not present in the menu bar, so participants had to infer the relevant categories from the menu bar to find the information). Results showed that older and young adults adopt different strategies for searching for information through a specific website. Prior domain knowledge helped older adults improve navigation using more relevant navigational paths, improving time spent on relevant pages and reducing the number of areas visually explored on the website. By contrast, young adults adopted the same search strategies regardless of the task complexity and the level of prior knowledge domain required by the task.

International audience

International audience

International audience

When playing action video games, an optimal experience implies the presence of a head-up display that informs players on their status in regard of their goal like health points or their localization in the environment. However, how can this type of information can be integrated in new gaming contexts like virtual reality? Should this information be integrated into the game universe (diegetic design) or stay out of it (non-diegetic design)? For this purpose, the performance, presence, and enjoyment of 41 players have been measured during a virtual reality first-person shooter game session with a diegetic and a non-diegetic interface. The results showed that diegetic integration has a positive effect on the player’s performance but not on the subjective experience (presence and enjoyment). The study also shed light on the moderator role of expertise in action games on this effect because the diegetic interface only benefited novice players.

In recent decades, learning devices using virtual reality (VR) environments have evolved rapidly. The potential positive impact of VR has been attributed to two characteristics: immersion, and of interaction with objects in the environment. However, results from the literature have not always shown the presumed benefits and few of them have assessed the effects on self-regulation. This study aims to assess the impact of immersion and on motivation, self-regulation, and performance. Participants had to acquire knowledge about sculptures by visiting a 3D virtual museum and then recall this knowledge. The participants were divided into four independent groups. They were: #1 In strong immersion (with VR headset) and active (control of interaction); #2 In strong (VR) and passive (non-interaction control) conditions; #3 In low immersion (tablet) and active conditions; #4 In low and passive immersion conditions. Intrinsic motivation and emotion were evaluated by a questionnaire, self-regulation was identified by behavioral indicators and performance was evaluated through a gap-fill exercise. Results showed that the control feature had a positive impact on performance, unlike immersion. Also, neither immersion nor had an impact on motivation. However, immersion and had a partial impact on self regulation. Educational implications will be discussed.