Abstract
This chapter discusses visual culture in the immersive metaverse through the visual cognition lens. Visual cognition pertains to how we learn through visual means. As educators, we should be aware of how our students learn consciously and unconsciously through the visual sense so that we can help them navigate the immersive metaverse they encounter. Culture and visual culture are discussed. Visual perception, specifically schema and Gestalt, are explained. Learning in the immersive metaverse is as concrete as in the physical world; therefore, teaching students to decode images, perceive the metaverse, and think about images from multiple cultural backgrounds becomes an issue of special importance when education occurs in the visualized immersive metaverse.
TopIntroduction
If we compare visual and linguistic cognition, then visual cognition seems easier to understand. When we are reading, if a paper is written in a language that we do not know, then we are unable to understand it. However, when we are observing images, we do not wonder if we can understand them but simply decode them through our personal experiences and cultural backgrounds. Today, in the world of connectivity, we see images daily from different parts of the world in the metaverse; however, if our cognition can help us understand or misunderstand the images we see, then, especially in the immersive metaverse, the images are to be questioned. Further, as educators, how we should help our students navigate the visual culture in the metaverse is discussed in this chapter.
Cognitive psychology mainly discusses the internal and internal-external (Hoffmann, 2007, p. 187) processes that influence how we make decisions. Repeated experiences form our internalization (Efland, 2002; Hoffmann, 2007; Hutchins, 1995), and we apply “dependent cognitive ability to a corresponding abstract and implicit knowledge” (Hutchins, 1995, p. 270). Representations, such as sounds, words, and images, become important cognitive tools. When representations repeatedly present a concept, these experiences strengthen the concept and help us form internal cognition. According to Parsons’ theory of cognitive development, we are not born with the ability to understand complex issues, but we acquire it from our experiences (as cited in Efland, 2002). When we face a new environment or a new situation, we utilize our past experiences to instruct us regarding where to go and what to do; this is an example of the internal-external cognitive process (Agre & Horswill, 1997). As we gain more experience or knowledge, we develop faster cognitive processes.
According to cognitive psychology, we can only understand visual images based on the information we have stored previously. As Freedman (2003) notes “Even our unconscious eye movements are detected by the search for information that will help to make sense of the stimulus based on our previous knowledge” (p67). Even images we have unconsciously perceived, if viewed repeatedly, are stored in our long-term memory and influence how we will perceive similar images in the future (Barry, 1997; Hoffmann, 2007; Kellogg, 1995). According to cognitive psychology, through visual experience we learn the repeated images around us (Hoffmann, 2007). As Hoffmann (2007) states, cognitive systems are semiotic systems: “systems mediated and constituted by signs and representations” (p. 202). Freedman (2003) notes that when we are viewing, we access knowledge from the hidden unit of our neural system to find the corresponding memory or knowledge to develop the connection between the object we are viewing and ourselves. Krampen (1990) additionally posits that images we are viewing convey “second hand information” (p. 81). Viewers utilize previous experiences to make connections with the image they are viewing; however, when image producers make images, they employ their past experiences to create new images and attempt to connect their experience to the viewers’ experience. When viewers see an image they have not seen before, they are establishing a new experience initiated by the image creator’s construct and understanding it based on their own personal and cultural experiences.
Images are generated through physical eyes and the cognitive process. Visual cognition, as Williams (2006) states, “operates on preconscious levels to process visual information into knowledge that motivates behavior before the conscious processes of the neocortex receive or understand the information” (p. 35). When we are processing images in our brains, visual perception allows us to gather information; through the visual perception processes, we utilize cognition to lend meaning to the image we see (Bogdan, 2002). Below, I introduce the visual culture phenomena in the immersive metaverse to develop the foundation before returning to cognitive psychology in the immersive metaverse.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Visual Culture: Visual culture is an interdisciplinary area that includes but is not limited to media studies, cultural studies, art history, and anthropology.
Gestalt: Gestalt allows us to understand the meaning of the whole picture of the image. It instructs us so that when we see, we see the relationship between things.
Schema: Schema permits us to understand images from parts. Schema is developed from our personal and cultural experiences; it is similar to a mental template that we utilize to make sense of what we perceive.
Immersive Metaverse: The metaverse includes all the virtual spaces that people can access through digital technology. The immersive metaverse specifically involves the metaverse that provides users with immersive experience. It currently includes both virtual and augmented reality.
Visual Cognition: Visual cognition explains how people make sense of the world from their visual sense. It discusses the internal and internal-external processes.
Visual Perception: Visual perception is how people perceive the element of visual media from their eyes to their brains, which mixes with their psychological feelings and sociocultural dimensions and finally reaches the reflection point.
Culture: Culture concerns who we are and how we live our lives. Culture is diverse; it is not stable but is a fluid process.