Brief social presence improves delayed memory for online lecture content.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of videoconferencing platforms became ubiquitous in postsecondary education around the world, making it crucial to understand how to maximize the efficacy of synchronous online classes. Given that social information can act as a motivation and improve memory, the current study tested the hypothesis that brief social presence during an online class would act as a social reward that would increase delayed memory for lecture information. Undergraduate students attended a mock synchronous class during which they viewed a pre-recorded science lecture, and social presence was manipulated by having participants turn on their cameras before and after the lecture (high social presence) or having cameras remain off during the entire class (low social presence). After 24 hours, participants completed a surprise memory test for the lecture material and a subjective experience survey about the class. As predicted, participants in the high social presence condition demonstrated higher recognition memory for the lecture content and gave higher ratings of enjoyment and feeling part of a group compared to participants in the low social presence condition. These findings suggest that enhancing social presence in virtual environments may be leveraged to boost academic performance in university students.