Immersive virtual reality (VR) environments offer novel opportunities to examine cognitive regulation and adaptive performance during complex, ecologically valid tasks. In vocational training contexts, learners must manage instructional support, regulate cognitive effort, and translate guidance into independent action, processes closely related to applied human intelligence. The present study examines behavioral indicators of cognitive regulation in a VR-based coffee preparation task using hand-tracking interaction.

Participants completed the same vocational procedure across two trials: an initial trial with full instructional guidance and a subsequent trial with reduced guidance. Performance was assessed using detailed temporal metrics for task segments, total completion time, interaction errors (object drops), and subjective workload and confidence ratings. Participants varied in prior VR experience and real-world coffee-machine expertise, allowing examination of expert–novice differences across both interaction and task knowledge dimensions.

Analyses focus on changes in performance and perceived workload following the removal of instructional scaffolding. Segment-level time distributions and guidance-related performance costs are examined to identify distinct performance strategies and potential bottlenecks. This study investigates how prior task expertise and VR experience relate to the regulation of cognitive effort under reduced guidance, highlighting the potential of VR-based behavioral measures for studying adaptive performance and applied intelligence in learning environments.