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The effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality in health science and
medical anatomy
Authors: Christian Moro, Zane Štromberga, Athanasios Raikos, Allan Stirling
Affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, 4229.
Note: This is a pre-proof version of this manuscript. The final version can be found at:
Wiley Online Library: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ase.1696/full
DOI :10.1002/ase.1696
To reference this article: Moro, C., Štromberga, Z., Raikos, A. and Stirling, A. (2017), The
effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality in health sciences and medical anatomy. Anatomical
Sciences Education. doi:10.1002/ase.1696
Correspondence to: Dr. Christian Moro, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University,
Gold Coast, QLD 4229, Australia. Telephone: +61 (0) 755954775.
E-mail: cmoro@bond.edu.au
Runninghead: VR and AR in health sciences and medical anatomy
Keywords: gross anatomy education; health sciences education; undergraduate education; medical
education; virtual reality; augmented reality; mixed reality; computer-aided instruction; oculus rift;
tablet applications
ABSTRACT
Although cadavers constitute the gold standard for teaching anatomy to medical and health
science students, there are substantial financial, ethical and supervisory constraints on their
use. In addition, although anatomy remains one of the fundamental areas of medical
education, universities have decreased the hours allocated to teaching gross anatomy in favor
of applied clinical work. The release of virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices
allows learning to occur through hands-on immersive experiences. The aim of this research
was to assess whether learning structural anatomy utilizing VR or AR is as effective as tablet-
based (TB) applications, and whether these modes allowed enhanced student learning,
engagement and performance. Participants (n=59) were randomly allocated to one of the
three learning modes: VR, AR or TB and completed a lesson on skull anatomy, after which
they completed an anatomical knowledge assessment. Student perceptions of each learning
mode and any adverse effects experienced were recorded. No significant differences were
found between mean assessment scores in VR, AR or TB. During the lessons however,
participants are more likely to exhibit adverse effects such as headaches (25% in VR P <
0.05), dizziness (40% in VR, P < 0.001) or blurred vision (35% in VR, P < 0.01). Both VR
and AR are as valuable for teaching anatomy as tablet devices, but also promote intrinsic
benefits such as increased learner immersion and engagement. These outcomes show great
promise for the effective use of virtual and augmented reality as means to supplement lesson
content in anatomical education.
Keywords: Virtual Reality; Augmented Reality; Mixed Reality; Computer-aided instruction;
Interactive Media in Education; Medical education; Oculus Rift; Tablet applications.
INTRODUCTION
Educational technology is changing the way people engage and interact with learning
material. Its goal is to create a powerful environment where the student can use their innate
abilities of learning to grasp complex concepts and acquire knowledge through observation,
imitation and participation (Goodyear and Retalis, 2010). Technology enhanced learning is
most effective when it seamlessly integrates into the curriculum, mitigates the passive lecture
experience and the large number of students in a class, and also provides a tool within which
students can engage in meaningful experiences and gain knowledge (Garrison and Akyol,
2009). In response to technological advancements, a variety of multimedia information
delivery tools have been developed and are currently in use to enhance students’ learning
outcomes. These supplementary materials include podcasts, screencasts and educational
software available for use on a personal computer and mobile devices, such as smartphones
and tablets (Scalise et al., 2011; Green et al., 2012; Molnar, 2016). The availability of
multimedia technology, digital content and software empowers the modern-day students as it
provides opportunities to engage with learning materials more easily and effectively. The
consumer-grade release of new visualization technologies such as virtual reality through the
Oculus Rift (Oculus VR, LLC., Menlo Park, CA) and Gear VR (Samsung Electronics Co.,
LTD., Suwon, South Korea) and augmented reality have paved a way to learn in a manner
that previously not possible. For clarity, in this research study, the terms applied have been
defined as follows:
Virtual reality (VR): The user’s senses (sight, hearing and motion) are fully
immersed in a synthetic environment that mimics the properties of the real world
through high resolution, high refresh rate head-mounted displays, stereo headphones
and motion-tracking systems.
Augmented reality (AR): Using a camera and screen (i.e. smartphone or tablet)
digital models are superimposed into the real-world. The user is then able to interact
with both the real and virtual elements of their surrounding environment.
Three-dimensional (3D) tablet displays: Utilizing high-resolution screens on tablets
and smartphones to visualize pseudo-3D models and environments. The user interacts
with digital aspects on the screen and manipulates objects using a mouse or finger
gestures.
Current trends in health science education
Medical and health science students must gain many skills and acquire vast arrays of
knowledge throughout their time at university to become competent practitioners, with
anatomy in particular being one of the cornerstones of health education. Without proper
understanding of anatomy, regardless of the area of healthcare, practitioners can be unable to
perform investigations effectively as they require knowledge of organs and tissues precise
locations (Singh et al., 2015). Anatomy is traditionally taught at the beginning of a health
science or medical course to provide the fundamental knowledge in four main areas: gross
anatomy, neuroanatomy, histology and embryology (Turney, 2007). It is commonly delivered
in the form of lectures, which include a slideshow presentation and a verbal description of the
concepts, dissections and prosections, clinical cases and self-directed study using two-
dimensional (2D) images and multimedia resources (Murgitroyd et al., 2015).
The field of science is constantly evolving and with this comes an increase in topics that must
be included within a modern curriculum, resulting in a paradigm shift in the way health is
taught. Many health science course curricula utilize a problem-based learning framework
which places a greater emphasis on student self-directed learning (Moro and McLean, 2017).
This has led to less face to face teaching time in many of the ‘basic sciences’ and a greater
dependence on supplementary materials and modules outside the formal course time
(Johnson et al., 2012). Although anatomy remains an integral part of health science
education, universities have decreased hours allocated to teaching anatomy and replaced them
with applied clinical work. In 2009 the amount of time dedicated to teaching gross anatomy
was found to have decreased by 55% over the span of the past 49 years within the medical
curriculum in universities within the United States of America (Drake et al., 2002, 2009,
2014). Similarly, a study conducted in Australia and New Zealand, concluded that the time
allocated for gross anatomy has also declined when compared to historical data (Craig et al.,
2010), potentially impacting the foundational knowledge of doctors, nurses, dentists,
biomedical and laboratory scientists, and other health science practitioners. A further decline
in the time allocated to gross anatomy is apparent if no reforms are made to the current
medical curricula (Singh et al., 2015). Based on the current situation, students in health
science courses are expected to spend more time learning anatomy using supplementary
resources as means of bridging the knowledge gaps.
Supplements used to enhance anatomical education
Anatomical learning is best done in a setting where desired structures can be examined from
all angles. This includes examinations of actual structures using cadavers or synthetic
recreations, such as silicone or plastic models. Surgeons stress the importance of dissections
in anatomy teaching, as it provides an effective method for learning anatomical details,
familiarizing the students with variations in human physiology and appreciating structures of
the body that cannot be examined during an operation (Turney, 2007; Sheikh et al., 2016). On
average, medical students can get approximately three hours of anatomy laboratory time each
week where they share a cadaver between 10 – 12 students (Snelling et al., 2003). These
sessions are tightly structured and in many universities, students are unable to gain access to
the ‘wet specimens’ outside of scheduled times (Codd and Choudhury, 2011; Murgitroyd et
al., 2015). This means that the students only have a limited window in which they can learn
anatomy effectively from a cadaver. Students are then required to turn to supplementary
materials to enhance their anatomical knowledge through self-directed study. This material
most commonly consists of 2D supplementary resources such as lecture slides, textbooks and
flashcards (Messier et al., 2016). An issue with learning from static images is that anatomical
structures are three-dimensional and it can be difficult to comprehend spatial relationships
between structures. 2D images also rely on the student’s ability to transform these into 3D
structures, which can be a challenging cognitive leap for those who find it difficult to
visualize or mentally rotate anatomical structures (Marsh et al., 2008; Brewer et al., 2012). It
also has to be noted that these static images, even if mentally rotated can only produce an
image that is assumed by the learner, however it can be inaccurate as the mind is filling the
gaps of the missing structures (Linn and Petersen, 1985; Liesefeld et al., 2015). With
advances in educational technology these traditional resources can be supplemented by
interactive multimedia learning tools (Walsh, 2014; Trelease, 2016) and interactive software
that can be accompanied with both auditory and visual information (Taveira-Gomes et al.,
2016).
For students, technology facilitates access to learning content at any time and place, whereas
for educators it expands their educational impact by not constraining learning to classroom
sessions (Goh, 2016). It also allows educators to guide students throughout self-directed
learning sessions, which can be particularly important for undergraduate students who often
require additional support compared to postgraduates (Moro and McLean, 2017). Multimedia
tools use a combination of words and pictures (Mayer, 2009), such as with “screencasts”
which are videos captured on a computer screen accompanied by an audio narration (Green et
al., 2012) and commonly used as a replacement to lecture recordings (Dey et al., 2009) or
tutorials (Lee et al., 2008). Although there have been several applications of screencasts and
in medical education, such as with teaching embryology (Evans, 2011) and structural
anatomy (Pickering, 2015), students have no control over the learning material other than the
option to pause/play or rewind/forward the screencast. A review by Trelease, 2016, outlines
how the development of 3D-simulation and modelling practices has stimulated the production
of a wide range of learning modes that can increase the engagement of students in anatomical
education, such as surgical simulations, viewing methods for regional anatomy, and 3D
“virtual anatomy”. Initial development of new software and educational content can be costly
and time consuming, however, rapid distribution options now mean that only one original
copy is necessary and all modifications can be immediately uploaded to each version (Goh,
2016). Therefore, the best way for educators to teach anatomy may be through combining
multiple resources (plastic models, dissections and learning software) to achieve optimal
results, as students benefit the most when a range of different learning modalities are
available (Estai and Bunt, 2016).
Applications of 3D interactive software to enhance anatomical education
Whilst a cadaver is an effective resource due to its ability to display spatial information,
textbooks are commonly used alongside the specimens in order to identify the names of
features and how the anatomy links with physiology (Codd and Choudhury, 2011).
Dissections also have limitations in teaching various areas of the human body such as skeletal
and nervous systems (Papa and Vaccarezza, 2013), whereas written resources are usually
very content dense and contain more information than required for the level of study
undertaken. Some advantages of 3D anatomical models in comparison to textbooks or
traditional 2D learning modes include enhanced spatial understanding of the inter-
relationships between different body structures (Huang et al., 2010). It has been established
that exploration of a virtual environment can help to develop spatial knowledge, with the
representations being nearly as accurate as those being formed when exploring an object in
real life (Dalgarno et al., 2002). Virtual learning tools may also reduce the performance gap
that exists between those who struggle to visualize spatial structures and those confident in
their spatial ability (Chen, 2006), and even assist overall comprehension by reducing the
cognitive effort required when learning new anatomical contexts (Küçük et al., 2016).
Additionally, 3D models are especially beneficial in cases where traditional methods of
dissection may be limited in the ability to educate students on complex structures, such as the
middle ear and the larynx (Nicholson et al., 2006; Nicholson et al., 2008; Hu et al., 2009).
The use of 3D technology supplements may also provide a benefit to student long-term
retention of gross anatomy (Peterson and Mlynarczyk, 2016), making it useful to supplement
students traditional anatomical learning techniques with modern virtualization techniques and
devices.
There are two types of virtual environments that can be used in education: a virtual world that
mimics the real world (e.g. a virtual room) or a computer-generated 3D object (e.g.
anatomical structures) (Lee and Wong, 2008). Users generally enjoy learning in a virtual
environment as they are more curious to explore it. This results in heightened involvement
and engagement (Chittaro and Ranon, 2007), alongside other beneficial variables, including
motivation, presence, interactive experiences and ease of use (Lee and Wong, 2008). Battulga
et al. (2012) found that students were more interested when spending time learning
anatomical structures through a 3D model, and Foo et al. (2013) noted that students were
more curious to explore the 3D model and spent more time looking for anatomical structures
when compared to traditional 2D methods.
The potential for virtual reality to enhance anatomical education has been around for more
than 40 years; however, it has not been widely available due to the associated high costs (Liu
et al., 2016). Over the past twenty years, there have been dramatic advances in the virtual
reality technology, including increases in computational speed, graphics rendering, tracking
devices and user interfaces (Rizzo et al., 2014). These advances have created new
opportunities for creating immersive educational experiences that previously were not
possible. In 2016, after the release of two developer kits Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2, the first
consumer-grade Oculus Rift CV1 (Oculus VR, LLC., Menlo Park, CA) became available for
the general public. Some examples of virtual reality applications within health science and
medical education include: an examination of digital pathology slides using an Oculus Rift
DK2 (Farahani et al., 2016); virtual drug design using gesture-recognition instead of standard
input devices (Norrby et al., 2015); and a 3D virtual anatomy puzzle using Oculus Rift DK2
(Messier et al., 2016). The release of modern 3D virtual systems has paved the way for new
approaches to medical imaging and education and have demonstrated success as beneficial
supplements in anatomical education (Peterson and Mlynarczyk, 2016; Miller, 2016).
Another 3D model visualization technology that shows promise in facilitating meaningful
learning experiences through strong visualization and manipulation is augmented reality
(Kamphuis et al., 2014). Augmented reality superimposes digital models in the user’s real-
world through the use of a camera and a screen, where the user is able to interact with both
the real and virtual elements of their surrounding environment (Azuma et al., 2001; Kirner et
al., 2012). It enhances the student’s interactions with the real world by projecting spatial
information in the form of a virtual object that cannot be directly detected by their own senses
(Azuma, 1997; Ellaway, 2010). When AR was first introduced, it was mainly used in
professional contexts to aid in complex tasks; such as the assembly of equipment and medical
surgeries (Barfield, 2015). It has also been used in image-guided surgery to visualize
structures of the body that are not visible below the surface thus reducing the surgical time
and increasing the precision of the procedure (Kersten-Oertel et al., 2013). The most
commonly used hardware for AR are handheld devices like tablet or a smartphone
(Kamphuis et al., 2014). Despite its potential, there has not been a widespread
implementation of this technology in anatomical education, as the current studies are still
focusing on the development and usability of AR as a learning tool (Wu et al., 2013). It is
hypothesized that by implementing augmented reality as a supplement to traditional learning
methods in anatomical education, the learning process would become more student-centered
thereby allowing students to expand on information already obtained (Delello et al., 2015).
What makes AR an excellent tool for implementation in anatomical education is that most
people already own the devices required to run this technology, which makes AR cheap,
readily accessible and not requiring specialized equipment for its use.
To our knowledge, the modern-day virtual or augmented reality systems have not yet been
widely introduced in a university classroom setting. As such, this is an important area in
technology-enhanced education to explore. There is no clear consensus in past research on
the use of 3D models to enhance student learning outcomes (Azer and Azer, 2016). Despite
the great potential, successful integration of 3D models in the medical curriculum is limited
by a paucity of research, and thus lack of evidence demonstrating its effectiveness. However,
with the release of modern-day virtual and augmented reality, on which these models can be
visualized, the learning experience can become more immersive. Although it has been
established that students greatly enjoy learning on VR and AR (Hu et al., 2009; Hu et al.,
2010; Keedy et al., 2011; Vuchkova et al., 2011), it is uncertain whether these tools provide a
more effective method for gaining knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to
compare the effectiveness of AR, VR and tablet-based applications in anatomical education.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants
A total of 59 participants studying anatomy were recruited for this study with 84.7% percent
(n=50) being students in biomedical and health sciences, 8.5% students in medicine (n=5),
and 6.8% students from other Faculties (n=4). This was run as a mixed-method triangulative
study over a period of 12 months. Randomization was performed through
https://www.random.org/ (Randomness and Integrity Services Ltd., Dublin, Ireland). All
recruited participants completed the study and no data was withdrawn. Groups received an
identical lesson presented in either VR, AR or on a tablet, which contained a computerized
interactive 3D model of a skull and a 10-minute audio-stream narrated by a specialist
surgeon. As different parts of the skull were introduced during the audio-stream, structures of
interest would highlight in blue to draw the learner’s attention. After the lesson, participants
answered Likert-style questions regarding any adverse health effects experienced during the
lesson through a questionnaire developed for assessing virtual reality viewing when using a
head-mounted display (adapted from Ames et al., 2005). Participants also answered questions
regarding their perceived engagement with the learning module (adapted from Hu et al.,
2009). The last requirement for participants was the completion of a 20 question anatomy test
to evaluate acquired knowledge developed by two clinical anatomists to question knowledge
expected of a second-year anatomy student. Participant gender was distributed evenly, with
an approximately neutral gender balance of 47% males and 53% females (Table 1). The mean
age of participants was 20.7 ± 5.5 years old, ranging from 17 to 53 years. Through the
process of randomization, 20 participants were allocated to the VR group, 17 to AR group
and 22 participants to tablet device group. Research ethics was approved by the Bond
University Human Ethics Research Committee, and all participants provided informed
consent.
Table 1: Outline of participant demographics
Characteristics
Virtual reality
(n=20)
Augmented
reality (n=17)
Tablet device
(n=22)
Total
(N=59)
Male, n (%)
8 (40.0%)
10 (58.8)
10 (45.5)
28 (47.5)
Female (n)
60% (12)
41% (7)
55% (12)
53% (31)
Age, mean (±SD)
20.2 (±3.5)
19.5 (±2.3)
22.2 (± 8.0)
20.7 (±5.5)
Has a science
background (n)
60% (12)
65% (11)
64% (14)
63% (37)
Previously studied
anatomy (n)
50% (10)
53% (9)
59% (13)
54% (32)
Development of the application
Applications for AR, VR and tablet were written using JavaScript within Unity v5 (Unity
Technologies, San Francisco, CA). The Oculus Rift was run on an Alienware Area 51 with a
CORE i7-5820 CPU @ 3.30GHz, 16GB RAM (Dell Inc. Round Rock, TX, USA) and
GTX980ti GPU (nVidia, Santa Clara, CA, USA) with Windows 10 x64 operating system.
Augmented reality was developed using the Vuforia v5 plug-in for Unity (PTC Inc., Boston,
MA) and run on Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (Samsung Electronics, Seocho District, Seoul,
South Korea) devices. The application developed by the authors of this paper, was created in
a way to be entirely interactive for the user. On the Oculus Rift, the object directly in front of
the user became highlighted, and the name of the feature was presented on the screen. The
left-click button engaged a “dissect” mode, removing the highlighted layer in front of the
user, revealing the underlying structures. The right click button was “undo”, restoring the
removed layers. The middle mouse wheel allowed zooming in-and-out, and the middle-
mouse-button moved the camera to focus on the object was being viewed. Moving the mouse
to the left or right orbited the focused structure. This allows the user to completely navigate
the virtual model, removing and restoring layers at will, and viewing names for each
individual feature through the movements of their head. On the AR and tablet apps, the
dissect and undo modes were present as icons along the right hand side of the screen, along
with a multi-select mode, audio start/stop, change object-focus and a “reset to default” option.
When the user ‘touched’ on a feature of the model in the AR or tablet applications, the
selected area highlighted and its name displayed on the screen. This highlighted object was
then able to be removed. Two-finger touching of the screen allowed panning, while pinching
finger gestures allowed the user to zoom in and out and navigate the model. The audio-stream
was identical in all three modes, and when the clinical anatomist providing the voiceover
lesson mentioned individual terms or features, that would highlight on the object in a light-
blue color (e.g: the background highlighting of objects was synced with the audio to draw the
users attention). During the audio, if the user had previously “dissected” or hidden the object
being described, that section of the model would reappear prior to being highlighted. From
this, the user could immediately follow the audio descriptions of the anatomical structures
and view them as individually highlighted features.
Analysis
A one-way ANOVA was used to evaluate the association between the mode of delivery (VR,
AR or tablet) and the anatomy test scores. A Kruskal-Wallis H-test was used to evaluate the
association between the mode of delivery and the adverse health effects exhibited during the
lesson, as well as participant perception of the learning mode. For examinations between two
variables, a Student’s unpaired two-tailed t-test was applied. All statistics were completed
using SPSS 24.0 (IBM Corporation, Amonk, New York). The adverse health effects were
rated on a four-point Likert scale (1 = none to 4 = severe), where lower scores indicated less
symptoms experienced. Participant perceptions were rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 =
strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree), where lower scores indicated negative perceptions
about the learning mode. At the completion of the online questionnaire, participants were
provided with a sheet of questions regarding their learning experience and suggestions for
future. The participants were able to expand on their experience and highlight the advantages
and limitations of each learning tool. The 20-question A-E multiple-choice anatomical
assessment was divided into two sections, a 10-question “factual” set which requested direct
knowledge of regions or bones from text, e.g. the lateral part of the orbit is formed
principally by which bone?”. The remaining 10-questions were classed as “spatial questions”,
where an image of the skull presented with a bone or area highlighted, and the participant
was asked questions such as: “which bone is highlighted in the picture above” (Table 2).
Table 2: Examples of the multiple-choice anatomy factual (#1-3) and spatial (#4) questions.
1. Which of the following is a paired bone that
forms part of the viscerocranium (facial skeleton)?
A. Mandible
B. Nasal
C. Occipital
D. Temporal
E. Vomer
2. Which bone of the skull contains the middle and
inner portions of the ear?
A. Temporal
B. Parietal
C. Mandible
D. Maxilla
E. Vomer
3. The lateral part of the orbital margin is formed
principally by which bone?
A. Ethmoid
B. Occipital
C. Zygomatic
D. Sphenoid
E. Nasal
4. Which bone of the skull is highlighted in the
image below?
A. Maxilla
B. Nasal
C. Zygomatic
D. Mandible
E. Lacrimal
RESULTS
Participants
Just over half of participants (54%) reported having taken a subject in anatomy prior to the
study, with the percentage ranging from 50% to 59% across the three study groups. 83% of
participants stated that they had no prior knowledge on the skull anatomy, whereas 10
participants had previously studied skull anatomy and were confident that they still
remembered the names of the individual structures. Most (74%) participants had no previous
experience with augmented or virtual reality prior to this study. The majority (95%) of
participants reported that they sometimes have difficulties understanding the position of an
anatomical structure in 3D space while more than half (59%) of participants reported having
no prescribed glasses for either short-sightedness or long-sightedness.
Results from the post-lesson anatomy knowledge test
After completing a 10-minute lesson on skull anatomy utilizing either the VR, AR or a tablet,
students were required to answer a 20-question multiple-choice test. The VR group received a
mean score of 64.5%, the AR group received 62.5% and the tablet group received 66.5%.
There was no significant difference observed in anatomical test scores between the three
groups (p = 0.874, Figure 1). Gender had no effect on participant scores (p = 0.313), nor did
having studied science since leaving high school (p = 0.279), or declaring that they have
difficulties understanding structure’s position in space (p = 0.289).
Figure 1: Boxplot of the overall mean scores achieved in the anatomical knowledge test
(virtual reality n=20, augmented reality n=17, 3D tablet n=22; one-way ANOVA).
The VR group received a mean score of 59% in the factual component of the assessment and
70% in the spatial component. The augmented reality group scored 55% in the factual recall
component and 71% in the spatial anatomy component. Finally, the tablet group scored
higher than the other two groups with a mean score of 61% in the factual component and
71% in the spatial component, however this increase was not significantly significant. All
three groups performed better in the spatial recall questions having received a group mean
score of 70.7% in comparison to 58.3% in factual recall questions (Figure 2). Overall, it was
found that all three groups were equally capable of answering both factual (p = 0.623) and
spatial (p = 0.933) questions with no significant differences observed in the mean scores
between groups (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Boxplots of the mean scores achieved in the anatomical knowledge test for factual
questions (Left) and spatial questions (Right) for each delivery mode (virtual reality n=20,
augmented reality n=17, 3D tablet n=22; one-way ANOVA).
Several analyses were run in order to assess whether the variations in participant
demographics had any influence on the responses to the anatomical assessment. Although the
content presented in the lesson was new to most students, those who had previously taken a
subject in anatomy had significantly higher test results (score = 70%, n = 32) than those new
to learning names and anatomical features (score = 58%, n = 27, p = 0.029, Student’s t-test).
Students that had studied the anatomy of the skull prior to the lesson did not perform
significantly better than those with no prior knowledge (p = 0.228). Being enrolled in Year 1
physiology and anatomy course, was found to have no significant effect on the test scores (p
= 0.263). There was no significant difference between participants who reported adverse
health effects and performance compared to those who were comfortable in the respective
learning mode.
Participant engagement with the learning modes
Participants rated their learning experience highly in all seven domains across the three
learning modes. There were no significant differences in mean scores observed for any of the
seven statements among the three groups (Figure 3). Regarding the learning software, most
(80%) participants stated that they preferred to learn at their own pace rather than at a pace
set by the educator and the audio-stream length (10 minutes) was agreed to be “appropriate”
by 85% of the participants. Participants were also provided with a blank piece of paper,
where they could volunteer responses and comments regarding their perceptions of the
learning modes. These written responses were provided by 18 out of 20 VR participants, 16
of out 17 AR participants and 17 out of 22 tablet group participants. Examples of participant
feedback from the VR group included: “The Oculus could be used as a good learning tool as
it lets you see all the parts of the skull at whichever angle you want. Being able to visualize
what we are learning in any way is helpful”; “Really good! Extremely helpful to visualize
bones and to be able to see/choose which bones to look at. The audio was informative. I
learned so much by doing this activity - definitely feel I learned a lot more doing this than
learning from a lecture.”.
Figure 3: Student perceptions of the three learning modes (virtual reality n=20, augmented
reality n=17, 3D tablet n=22; Mean±SEM).
Adverse health effects exhibited during the lesson
Among the three learning groups, participants reported different levels of adverse effects. The
members in virtual reality group experienced significantly more symptoms than those in the
augmented reality and 3D tablet groups. For the VR group, increases in adverse effects were
recorded for general discomfort (P = 0.010), headache (P = 0.023), dizziness (P = 0.001),
nausea (P = 0.016) and disorientation (P = 0.029, Table 3). For eye-related symptoms, the
VR group experienced a significant increase in blurred vision (P = 0.003), difficulty focusing
(P = 0.036) and double vision (P = 0.018, Table 3). In participant feedback, two written
comments reported experiencing dizziness or even that the technology was distracting: “I
wasn't really paying attention to the audio stream. I was more intrigued by the technology,
although it can get a little dizzy”; and “I did find that I became very distracted by how cool
the program was that I realised I wasn't focusing on the learning aspect of it! Other than
that, it is very cool and I can see this becoming a useful tool for anatomy students”.
Table 3: Participants exhibiting adverse symptoms during the skull anatomy lesson on the
virtual reality, augmented reality and tablet modes.
General Symptoms n (%)
Virtual Reality
(n=20)
Augmented
Reality (n=17)
Tablet device
(n=22)
p value
General Discomfort
8 (40.0%)
2 (11.8%)
1 (4.5%)
0.010*
Fatigue
5 (25.0%)
2 (11.8%)
2 (9.1%)
0.304
Boredom
6 (30.0%)
3 (17.6%)
9 (40.9%)
0.325
Drowsiness
6 (30.0%)
1 (5.9%)
3 (13.6%)
0.125
Headache
5 (25.0%)
1 (5.9%)
0 (0.0%)
0.023*
Dizziness
8 (40.0%)
1 (5.9%)
0 (0.0%)
0.001*
Difficulty concentrating
7 (35.0%)
8 (47.1%)
8 (36.4%)
0.803
Nausea
4 (20.0%)
0 (0.0%)
0 (0.0%)
0.016*
Disorientation
5 (25.0%)
0 (0.0%)
1 (4.5%)
0.029*
Eye-related Symptoms n (%)
Tired eyes
5 (25.0%)
4 (23.5%)
2 (9.1%)
0.368
Sore/aching eyes
1 (5.0%)
3 (17.6%)
2 (9.1%)
0.430
Eyestrain
5 (25.0%)
2 (11.8%)
2 (9.1%)
0.379
Blurred vision
7 (35.0%)
0 (0.0%)
1 (4.5%)
0.003*
Difficulty focusing
6 (30.0%)
0 (0.0%)
2 (9.1%)
0.036*
Double-vision
4 (20.0%)
0 (0.0%)
0 (0.0%)
0.018*
Kruskal-Wallis H test: *p < 0.05.
DISCUSSION
Although cadavers are most commonly used for teaching anatomy to medical and biomedical
science students, there are substantial financial, ethical and supervisory constraints on their
use (Turney, 2007). This means that alternative methods for learning spatial and theoretical
concepts in anatomy have been researched considerably throughout the past decade.
However, very few of these ideas, such as QR codes (Kan et al., 2011, Traser et al., 2015),
online applications (Petersson et al., 2009), 3D visual anatomical atlases such as Essential
Anatomy (3D4Medical, 2016) or similar teaching aids have been demonstrated as effective
for learning, or have been widely incorporated into university curricula. Virtual and
augmented reality, however, present the first consumer-grade technology which can depict
realistic 3D models and concepts to students, in a way that can be directed by a teacher or
supervisor. The use of this technology has therefore generated considerable interest and its
potential to supplement current teaching in anatomical education is exciting to both students
and curricula developers alike. This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of migrating
lessons otherwise taught in a lecture-format or alongside cadavers, into three separate modes.
Although it has previously been established that tablet-based 3D applications could provide
useful supplementary tools for students (Lewis et al., 2014), the learning outcomes when
using AR and VR devices remain unclear. As both VR and AR offer heightened intrinsic
benefits to the student: such as enhanced engagement; virtual environments and 3D-spatial
visualizations of models; there was the risk of this novel technology being overly distracting
or difficult to use by the student, and it was not clear whether students learning from VR or
AR would achieve the same results, or even better results, than those using a tablet. However,
the results showed that all three modes of learning were equally effective in teaching
anatomy, and there were no significant differences between the students’ mean scores. This
outcome shows great promise for the effectiveness of virtual and augmented reality in the
supplementation of lesson content in anatomical education.
Most students found that they enjoyed learning anatomy using the modules provided in this
report. This desire to learn using interactive media is becoming a common theme, such as in
one study where 3D oral radiographs were interpreted through a desktop application, and
although student performance did not improve, the majority (88%) of participants stated that
they would prefer using 3D software instead of a textbook (Vuchkova et al., 2011). Another
study on dental morphology determined that that 3D interactive media was just as effective as
the traditional course with classroom lectures (Maggio et al., 2012), although student results
were not necessarily increased. Specific to anatomical education using 3D interactive
software, studies by Hu and colleagues (2009) on laryngeal anatomy and Keedy and
colleagues (2011) on hepatobiliary anatomy also observed no increase in test scores when
compared to standard written instruction group and a majority of participants reported high
satisfaction rates. Similar to these listed studies, the enhanced engagement, enjoyment and
participation observed in the VR and AR groups did not necessarily result in increased test
scores. Some possible explanations for this may be may be due to the “novelty effect” as this
technology has only recently been made available for the general to purchase rarely used in
education and there were several reports in the written feedback of participants perceiving
VR technology as “cool”. Participants reported having spent more time getting familiar with
the technology rather than listening to the audio-stream and learning the structures of the
skull. However, as students become more accustomed to these virtual devices and
applications, their comprehension of the content within is likely to increase, and modern
packaged applications utilizing AR showing promising results for student engagement and
learning, such as the ARBOOK (Ferrer-Torregrosa et al., 2015) and HuMAR prototype
applications (Jamali et al., 2015) and it will be interesting to see the influence on students if
these types of applications are implemented in medical and biomedical programs.
Adverse health effects
A potential issue that can have an impact on the learning experience and assessment results
when using virtual reality is cybersickness, which causes nausea, disorientation, discomfort,
headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and problems with vision (Rebenitsch and Owen,
2016). It is believed that cybersickness is due to a sensory mismatch, which happens when
the visual system tells the body that is moving while the vestibular system tells the body it is
stationary (Howarth and Costello, 1997). There have been previous reports on symptoms
associated with cybersickness exhibited when using virtual reality in past studies (Mosadeghi
et al., 2016). In this study, participants in the VR groups experienced significantly more
symptoms than those in AR and tablet groups. The general symptoms exhibited (general
discomfort, headache, dizziness, nausea and disorientation) are consistent with the symptoms
caused by cybersickness with the use of head-mounted displays (Rebenitsch and Owen,
2016). Both general discomfort and dizziness was observed in 40% of participants in the first
study, which is of concern as experiencing these symptoms would have a great impact on the
learning quality and therefore make the student less immersed in the lesson. One-third of VR
group experienced blurred vision and difficulty concentrating, whereas double-vision was
present in 21% of participants. The prevalence of these symptoms was significantly higher in
VR group in comparison to AR and tablet groups. Based on student feedback across all three
studies, dizziness was a frequent symptom mentioned in the comments.
A relatively large portion of students reported “difficulty concentrating” across all three
learning modes. Learning the large number of features and names of a new anatomical region
all-at-once in an application may require processing demands that exceed the students’
cognitive capabilities. The cognitive load theory, developed by Sweller (1994), emphasizes
the limitations of human working memory when exposed to different instructional designs. A
person is only able to process three to five “chunks of information” at the same time,
therefore anything that exceeds simple cognitive activities may overwhelm the working
memory and one’s cognitive resources (Cowan, 2010). This would suggest that a student who
learns in a complex virtual environment may have a large working load, which would then
have an impact on the learning outcomes, especially for novice learners who have not been
exposed to the content beforehand (Kirschner et al., 2006). As such, when creating an
instructional tool, limits of the working memory and cognitive processing may need to be
taken into consideration (Mayer, 2009). Study material containing a lot of elements will
require a greater capacity of working memory to process the information simultaneously. In
contrast, when using study material that contains a low number of interactive elements, the
working memory is not as strained and all information could be learned serial manner without
overwhelming the student (Sweller et al., 1998).
Limitations and further studies
This study was limited in its focus on the effectiveness of educating a relatively limited
number of students studying introductory anatomy. A greater number of participants, from a
wider cohort of students would further support the overall conclusions in this area. In
particular, further interest would be in the influence of these teaching tools in educating
medical graduates, or postgraduate students in more advanced anatomical concepts and
features. This area of research would also benefit from further research into the adverse
effects exhibited in this study, and potential methods that could be employed to minimize or
reduce these in virtual and augmented anatomical education applications. Sample
demographics may also have played a role in the study outcome, as it was determined that
participants that had previously taken a course in anatomy received higher mean score in the
anatomical test than those that had not. It is likely that people who have some degree of
experience learning anatomy are more familiar with the terms and have a set system for
learning structures, therefore leading to better results regardless of learning mode used.
Finally, future studies could also provide benefit by identifying the optimal timeframe of
lessons within VR and AR. This study utilized 10-minute sessions, however, it may be more
comfortable for participants to spend longer or shorter periods within the virtual world, or
even obtain a pre-exposure to the virtual environment for some time prior to the lessons. In
order to provide optimal lessons, the differences in session lengths could be explored and
refined to maximize learning.
CONCLUSION
Although cadavers constitute the gold standard for teaching anatomy to medical and
biomedical science students, previous benefits have also been reported through the use of
tablet-based software. However, modern advances in consumer-grade technology has allowed
the creation of immersive 3D environments using virtual and augmented reality. This article
presents both VR and AR as effective teaching tools, where student learning is as successful
as with tablet-based applications although educators should be cautious regarding the
introduction of adverse effects, such as blurred-vision and disorientation with VR in
particular. However, both VR and AR provide additional intrinsic benefits, such as increased
student engagement, interactivity and enjoyment. This finding shows great promise for future
applications utilizing VR and AR, which are expected to become unique and powerful
learning tools within health sciences and medical curricula.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS:
CHRISTIAN MORO, B.Sc., B.Ed., M.Bus., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and the Scientist
and Scholar Theme Lead for the Medical Program at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.
Christian teaches both medical and biomedical sciences, and his laboratory research interests
include the physiology associated with diseases of the urinary bladder, while his medical
education research focusses on the implementation of novel technological tools to enhance
student learning, participation and interaction.
ZANE ŠTROMBERGA B.BiomSci. (Hon.) is a graduate (Ph.D.) student in Physiology and
Pharmacology in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University, Gold
Coast, Queensland, Australia. Her research interests involve urological functional studies and
medical education.
ATHANASIOS RAIKOS, M.D., M.Clin.Educ., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of anatomy
and the Year 2 Lead for the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine at Bond University,
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. He teaches anatomy, histology, and embryology to
medical and biomedical students and his research interest is in virtual and augmented reality
technologies and their usefulness in medical and allied health education.
ALLAN STIRLING, M.B.Ch.B., M.R.C.S., M.Clin.Educ., is an Associate Professor of
anatomy and histology and the Anatomy Lead for the Faculty of Health Sciences and
Medicine at Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Allan teaches clinical
anatomy to medical and undergraduate science students and is passionate about using
technology in his teaching to stimulate curiosity in his learners.
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