Development of virtual reality visualization model (VRVM) with relative spatiotemporality for visual contents in molecular toxicology education

Background Visualizing educational contents makes learning more efficient and effective especially in the area such as molecular toxicology, which is time consuming and intellectually taxing to learn. Objective A design principle based on cognitive neuroscience was developed for spatiotemporality of information and optimized virtual reality (VR) for molecular toxicology. We modeled VR with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, a major working mechanism of several toxic poisons such as fluoroacetate, malonate, arsenite, etc. to improve the effectiveness of education in molecular toxicology for better recall compared to traditional education methods. Results We devised an educational system and theoretical basis for virtual reality visualization model (VRVM), as integrated research in this area had been insufficient thus far. We found that VRVM has positive effects on learning and memory when teaching complex topics such as molecular toxicology in our previous study. Conclusions This study has three main components: (1) construction of VR hardware/software (HW/SW) system; (2) creation of VR space design guide; and (3) verification of VRVM spatiotemporality. Consequently, we developed VRVM for the TCA cycle of toxicological mechanism to improve the study habits of medical students in the context of molecular toxicology studies. To continuously expand this approach for future educational applications, up-to-date findings in areas such as cognitive neuroscience and psychology for studying molecular toxicology should be incorporated to strengthen concepts, logic, and physical models of visualization.