Students’ Dynamics of Heart Rate Variability during Virtual Reality Class

The article presents the results of a study of the dynamics of the characteristics of heart rate variability in the learning process in high-level virtual reality and behind a computer monitor. The continuous dynamics of the heart rate of senior and junior students (N=16, 8 — female, 8 — male, age from 18 to 22) was recorded at rest (sitting, in silence, with eyes closed) and during two short lessons in biology and mathematics in different conditions. After the training programs (classes), students were offered test questions on the materials they had listened to and a questionnaire for the subjective assessment of the lesson information in terms of the degree of novelty, complexity, clarity of the material, etc. It was shown that the dynamics of the functional state does not differ between lessons, the degree of activation and tension in terms of HRV increased equally when practicing in virtual reality and behind a computer monitor compared to the background. At the same time, after working in training programs in virtual reality, the students demonstrated a greater number of correct answers to test questions and evaluated the information in them as newer and more complex, compared to the lessons at the computer monitor. The conclusion is made about the effectiveness of the use of virtual reality technologies in education, as students demonstrate higher results with the same level of tension and activity.

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