  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.
