Virtual reality (VR) and interactive 3D visualization systems have enhanced educational experiences and environments, particularly in complicated subjects such as anatomy education. VR-based systems surpass the potential limitations of traditional training approaches in facilitating interactive engagement among students. However, research on embodied virtual assistants that leverage generative artificial intelligence (AI) and verbal communication in the anatomy education context is underrepresented. In this work, we introduce a VR environment with a generative AI-embodied virtual assistant to support participants in responding to varying cognitive complexity anatomy questions and enable verbal communication. We assessed the technical efficacy and usability of the proposed environment in a pilot user study with 16 participants. We conducted a within-subject design for virtual assistant configuration (avatar- and screen-based), with two levels of cognitive complexity (knowledge- and analysis-based). The results reveal a significant difference in the scores obtained from knowledge- and analysis-based questions in relation to avatar configuration. Moreover, results provide insights into usability, cognitive task load, and the sense of presence in the proposed virtual assistant configurations. Our environment and results of the pilot study offer potential benefits and future research directions beyond medical education, using generative AI and embodied virtual agents as customized virtual conversational assistants.

翻译：虚拟现实（VR）与交互式三维可视化系统已显著提升教育体验与环境，尤其在解剖学教育等复杂学科中。基于VR的系统能够超越传统培训方法的潜在局限，促进学生间的互动参与。然而，在解剖学教育语境中，针对利用生成式人工智能及语言交互的具身虚拟助手的研究目前仍较为匮乏。本文提出了一种集成生成式AI具身虚拟助手的VR环境，旨在支持参与者回答不同认知复杂度的解剖学问题并实现语言交互。我们通过一项包含16名参与者的预实验用户研究，评估了该环境的技术有效性与可用性。实验采用被试内设计，比较了虚拟助手的两种配置（基于虚拟化身与基于屏幕），并设置了两种认知复杂度水平（基于知识与基于分析）。结果表明，与基于虚拟化身的配置相关，基于知识与基于分析问题的得分存在显著差异。此外，结果还揭示了所提虚拟助手配置在可用性、认知任务负荷及临场感方面的特征。本环境及预实验结果不仅为医学教育领域，也为利用生成式AI及具身虚拟代理作为定制化虚拟对话助手的更广泛研究方向提供了潜在优势与未来展望。