Does multisensory stimulation with virtual reality (VR) and smell improve learning? An educational experience in recall and creativity.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to derive into practical recommendations from multisensory stimulation with virtual reality (VR) and scent to help educators develop effective teaching strategies geared toward aspects of the learning experience, recall, and creativity in a stereotypical learning context.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a randomized experiment in which student participants were subdivided into three treatment groups and one control group. Each group was stimulated by a different combination of visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli (2D SMELL, VR, and VR SMELL) and the outcomes were compared against those of the control group (2D).