Year: 2026
Type: review
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Cognitive load is a critical determinant influencing user experience in virtual reality (VR), shaping information processing efficiency and the depth of immersion. Despite VR's potential to allocate cognitive resources through multi-channel interaction, the increased information volume presents new challenges. This systematic literature review, adhering to PRISMA 2020 guidelines, examines six major databases, including Web of Science and Scopus, from 2020 to 2025, to elucidate cognitive load mechanisms in VR and identify current research limitations. Our findings reveal that VR has been indicated to reduce specific forms of cognitive load in education, health, and training contexts when task structure, pacing, and interaction design are well aligned with user needs. However, its immersive features may also increase mental demands, especially in perceptually demanding tasks. In contrast, research on entertainment applications remains comparatively underexplored. This review addresses a more specific gap by clarifying when immersive VR reduces cognitive load, when it increases it, and how design choices shape that balance across application contexts.
Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia
Language: English
Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,180
OpenAlex ID: W7213538649