Impact of Technological Immersion and Sensorimotor Engagement on Performance and Brain Plasticity in Short-Term Second Language Vocabulary Training.

Overview

1. Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Division of Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
2. Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
3. Laboratory of Geo-information Science and Remote Sensing, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
4. Cultural Geography Research Group (GEO) and WANDER XR Experience Lab, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
5. Department of Medical Imaging and Physiology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden
6. Diagnostic Radiology, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Sweden
7. Lund University Bioimaging Centre, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
8. Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
9. Lund University Humanities Lab, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Abstract

Classroom-based language learning has typically taken place in relatively static body positions, but research suggests that embodied learning through sensorimotor engagement and technical immersion, using virtual realities, can significantly enhance learning outcomes. Recent research has linked differences in the learning context to different cortical structures within the language learning network. In this study, we investigated the effect of technical immersion and sensorimotor engagement on performance in behavior and gray matter volume in the brain after a single 20-min language learning task. We tested two learning environments: a low-embodied desktop-based virtual environment (dVE) using a computer screen and a high-embodied immersive virtual reality (iVR) environment using a head-mounted display, as well as a no training group. We assessed morphological brain changes using magnetic resonance imaging at 7 Tesla before and after training. Participants with less sensorimotor engagement, compared to those with high, performed significantly better and showed higher gray matter volume in the left angular gyrus, a key hub region for vocabulary training within the language network, as well as in the left middle temporal gyrus, a region associated with lexical semantic processing. However, we could not identify a difference between the dVE and iVR groups. Our results suggest that both virtual platforms, although different in the level of immersion and whole-body involvement, rely on similar cortical structures within the language learning network. Furthermore, sensorimotor engagement might have a stronger influence on performance and related brain changes than the learning context itself.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Datasets cited

• github.com/theorum/manuscript_embodied_learning_vbm, at github.com; found in “Code and Data Availability Statements”

Code and Data Availability Statements

The statistical maps as well as the behavioral data of this study are publicly available at https://github.com/TheoRum/manuscript_embodied_learning_VBM. The analysis on the stuructural MRI data was performed using the open-source software FSL-VBM (Version 6.0.6; https://web.mit.edu/fsl_v5.0.10/fsl/doc/wiki/FSLVBM.html).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, pages, dates, 10 authors, 6 keywords, 4 funders, 68 references.

Cite

This paper

Rumetshofer, T., Langensee, L., Li, P., Zhao, J., Klippel, A., Wennberg, L., Nilsson, M., Sundgren, P. C., Gullberg, M., & Mårtensson, J. (2026). Impact of Technological Immersion and Sensorimotor Engagement on Performance and Brain Plasticity in Short-Term Second Language Vocabulary Training. Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.), 7, NOL.a.238. https://doi.org/10.1162/nol.a.238

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