VR 이용 경험 수준이 가상 브랜드 공간 내 고각성 구간의 장기 회상에 미치는 영향

초록

(Background and Purpose) As retail undergoes digital transformation, brands increasingly construct virtual reality (VR) brand spaces, and VR brand experience is drawing attention as a strategy that shapes brand memory beyond immediate satisfaction. Converting a one-time curiosity into a durable brand imprint requires that the experience be transferred into long-term memory, yet the factors that govern this transfer remain empirically underspecified. Prior research on branded virtual environments has focused largely on stimulus-side visual environmental factors, examining how various immersive stimuli shape consumer psychological states and behavioral responses. In contrast, user-side individual differences that govern how the same stimulus is encoded remain underexamined. Because VR is a relatively unfamiliar medium, a user's prior VR experience may determine the extraneous cognitive load imposed during encoding, and thereby the depth of long-term memory formation. This study therefore investigates whether a user's level of prior VR experience is associated with how brand memories formed in a virtual environment persist over the long term, and aims to clarify the role of individual differences in long-term brand memory. (Method) This study reanalyzed data from the authors' prior research on a reconstructed metaverse department store built on the Lotte Caliverse environment, comprising four brand stores. High-arousal moments (CM) were derived from beta-band EEG recorded during the experience. Twenty-seven participants' prior VR experience, measured in a pre-experience survey, was linked to a nine-month recognition test comparing high-arousal (CM), low-arousal (Non-CM), and unseen control (Foil) stimuli, with responses distinguishing context-rich recollection (R) from context-free familiarity (F). Because dosage-response relationships could not be tested at this sample size, participants were dichotomized into a novice group and an experienced group. Mann-Whitney U tests, Spearman correlations, and partial correlations were used, and this individual-difference design is interpreted as correlational rather than causal. (Results) VR-experienced participants showed a significantly higher recollection (R) rate for CM stimuli than novices (54.8% vs. 31.2%, p= .031, r= .41), recalling high-arousal moments roughly 1.75 times as often. The difference appeared in memory quality rather than mere quantity, as the experienced group's memories shifted from vague familiarity toward scene-based recollection. The effect was specific to high-arousal stimuli (Non-CM: p= .818) and was not attributable to a lenient response bias (Foil false alarms: p= .550). It remained after controlling for age, gender, and technology readiness (partial r= .40, p= .040). (Conclusions) Prior VR experience predicts long-term memory of high-arousal brand moments, a pattern consistent with a cognitive-load account in which unfamiliarity with the medium competes with content encoding for resources rather than strengthening memory through novelty. This suggests that a striking visual moment persists as memory only when users are in a state that allows them to allocate cognitive resources to that moment, implying that VR brand-space design should incorporate adaptation phases for novice users. However, this study measured only prior VR use frequency and did not directly assess VR literacy or operational proficiency; future research should therefore explicitly measure and control participants' prior VR experience.

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