The stress and workload of virtual reality training: the effects of presence,immersion and flow

The present investigation evaluated the effects of virtual reality (VR) training on the performance, perceived workload and stress response to a live training exercise in a sample of Soldiers. We also examined the relationship between the perceptions of that same VR as measured by engagement, immersion, presence, flow, perceived utility and ease of use with the performance, workload and stress reported on the live training task. To a degree, these latter relationships were moderated by task performance, as measured by binary (Go/No-Go) ratings. Participants who reported positive VR experiences also tended to experience lower stress and lower workload when performing the live version of the task. Thus, VR training regimens may be efficacious for mitigating the stress and workload associated with criterion tasks, thereby reducing the ultimate likelihood of real-world performance failure.

Practitioner Summary: VR provides opportunities for training in artificial worlds comprised of highly realistic features. Our virtual room clearing scenario facilitated the integration of Training and Readiness objectives and satisfied training doctrine obligations in a compelling engaging experience for both novice and experienced trainees.     

Learning from virtual reality applications in education

This paper presents an overview of the uses of virtual reality in education. It draws particularly on three projects, the West Denton High School in Newcastle, the Human-Computer Interface Technology Laboratory's summer school in Seattle and the Shepard School for children with special needs in Nottingham. In each of these projects, there is distinctive relationship between the learning experience and the experience of virtual worlds. Here, the concern will not be with the pedagogical value of these projects, which have been documented elsewhere, but with the wider contribution that they can make to our understanding of virtual environments. To do this, it examines in each case how the virtual reality systems are integrated into the curriculum, how these systems relate to the learning process, the usability of the systems, and the possibilities and constraints of the virtual worlds. By comparing these with other emerging virtual reality applications, such as entertainment games, it can be seen that different systems present a variety of possibilities for constructing presence in, and interaction with, virtual environments.     

Provision and maintenance of presence and immersion in hand‐held virtual reality through motion based interaction

Hand‐held devices are also becoming computationally more powerful and being equipped with special sensors and non‐traditional displays for diverse applications aside from just making phone calls. As such, it raises the question of whether realizing virtual reality, providing a minimum level of immersion and presence, might be possible on a hand‐held device capable of only relatively “small” display. In this paper, we propose that motion based interaction can widen the perceived field of view (FOV) more than the actual physical FOV, and in turn, increase the sense of presence and immersion up to a level comparable to that of a desktop or projection display based VR systems. We have implemented a prototype hand‐held VR platform and conducted two experiments to verify our hypothesis. Our experimental study has revealed that when a motion based interaction was used, the FOV perceived by the user for the small hand held device was significantly greater than (around 50%) the actual. Other larger display platforms using the conventional button or mouse/keyboard interface did not exhibit such a phenomenon. In addition, the level of user felt presence in the hand‐held platform was higher than or comparable to those in VR platforms with larger displays. We hypothesize that this phenomenon is related to and analogous to the way the human vision system compensates for differences in acuity resolution in the eye/retina through the saccadic activity. The paper demonstrates the distinct possibility of realizing reasonable virtual reality even with devices with a small visual FOV and limited processing power. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Developing a hands-on activity using virtual reality to help students learn by doing

This study combined virtual reality (VR) technology, the 6E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Engineer, Enrich, and Evaluate) model, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education to develop a hands-on activity aimed at helping students to achieve “learning by doing.” The participants were 162 tenth-grade students, divided into the Experimental Group (hands-on activity using VR technology) and the Control Group (hands-on activity via lectures). Using sequential analysis, this study investigated how the hands-on activity influenced the students' behavioral patterns in learning. The results showed that all of the students' learning performances and hands-on abilities were enhanced. Moreover, the students who used VR technology achieved both significantly better learning performances and hands-on abilities, indicating that VR might be able to help the students understand abstract scientific concepts and build mental models, which they used to internalize and organize knowledge structures. Furthermore, this study discovered that the students who learned using VR technology formed a cyclical learning pattern, starting with a group discussion (G), moving on to solving problems (S) and developing a product (D), and then going back to another group discussion. However, the students who learned via lectures produced a linear learning pattern in the order of G→S→D.     

Augmented reality assisted learning achievement,motivation, and creativity for children of low-grade in primary school

There is a large volume of published studies describing the positive role of Augmented Reality (AR) in educational settings. However, there is a paucity of empirical work that explores its role in supporting primary school pupil's motivation and creativity. Moreover, numerous studies have confirmed that pupils have difficulties in learning geometry and thinking geometrically. In this context, this paper explores the possibility of using AR software for low-grade primary school pupils to enhance their creative thinking and increase their motivation during the informal geometry training course. A research-based design process is adopted to replicate the primary school pupil's learning in this study, where pupils in the experimental group used mobile application to access AR virtual manipulatives, pupils in the control group used physical manipulatives. The applied AR technology allows pupils to handle 2D and 3D rounded corners and simple closed curves to find the most effective solutions for some learning challenges. Sixty-two pupils from the first-grade primary school in Egypt have participated in this study with the aim of investigating: (a) the primary school pupil's achievements and creative thinking in using AR techniques, and (b) the specific strategies that can increase their motivation and engagement. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in geometry learning achievement, while statistically significant differences were found between the groups in the motivation and creative thinking skills in favour of the experimental group.     

A method to measure the uniformity of the virtual image distance in an augmented reality or virtual reality device

The virtual image distance in an augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) device is an important factor in determining its performance. In this paper, a method for measuring the virtual image distance and its uniformity is proposed. The setup for measurement consists of a two-dimensional spatial sensor array on the translational stage and a pinhole array plate placed in front of the AR or VR device. As the distance between the pinhole plate and the two-dimensional spatial sensor array were changed, the positions of the rays through each pinhole were measured by a two-dimensional spatial sensor array. The ray trajectories through each pinhole were obtained by fitting these positions to straight lines. The relative distances between these ray trajectories were calculated with respect to the distance from the pinhole plate. This method is effective for measuring the uniformity, such as the azimuthal dependence of the virtual image distance or the dependence of the virtual image distance on the distance from the optical axis of the VR lens.     

An investigation into nausea and other side-effects of head-coupled immersive virtual reality

This paper is written from a human factors perspective and discusses research into some of the side-effects of head-coupled immersive virtual reality. The paper provides a broad overview of the history of virtual reality and highlights some of the important current human factors issues. Reasons why side-effects of virtual reality technology may be expected are then discussed with particular reference to the literature on motion sickness and simulator sickness. A study is described which set out to document the frequency of occurrence and severity of side-effects of immersion in virtual reality. One hundred and fifty subjects took part in this study and were immersed in a virtual environment for 20 minutes. Sixty-one percent of the subjects were documented as reporting symptoms at some point during the 20 minute immersion period and a 10 minute post-immersion period. Five percent of the subjects had to withdraw from the study due to the severity of their symptoms. This finding led to further research that attempted to reduce the side-effects observed. Studies investigating the use of adaptation and the anti-motion sickness drug hyoscine hydrobromide are described. Both of these methods of reducing the side-effects of virtual reality proved successful with the hyoscine proving to be a very rapid method of symptom reduction.     

虚拟工厂现实场景系统平台设计与实现

随着现代化工业不断发展,模拟过程工业真实环境,并在此基础上进行地理信息显示与空间分析等成为当前的研究热点。构建基于虚拟现实(VR)和地理信息系统的(GIS)的虚拟工厂现实场景系统是进行工业生产仿真的一条有效途径,为此,设计开发一个三维的、可维护性强并具有一定扩展性的虚拟工厂现实场景系统具有重要的实用价值。本文通过数据准备、数据生成、系统扩展及客户端设计,实现了虚拟工厂现实场景系统开发过程。通过应用分析与对比,结果表明,该平台化系统具有更高的可扩展性且开发成本低,为虚拟工厂现实场景系统平台设计提供了一个良好的、可扩展的开发途径。     

基于VRML-Java的网络虚拟现实的实现

受到网络速度的限制,传统的网页只能显示文本和图片等二维信息,而网络虚拟现实技术把交互的、逼真的虚拟三维场景引入网络.虚拟现实建模语言（VRML）是一种在互联网上构筑三维虚拟场景的语言标准,通过VRML脚本节点及Java小应用程序实现了用户与虚拟场景更好的交互,并通过Java数据库连接（JDBC）,系统实现了三维场景与二维信息的集成.     

虚拟现实技术在城市建设中的应用

文章以虚拟现实 ( VR)系统为核心 ,综合利用全数字摄影测量系统、地理信息系统 ( GIS)和网络技术等 ,研究快速建立虚拟城市的技术和方法。通过这个方法 ,将虚拟现实作为一个开放系统和一门实用技术 ,为城市信息化提供一种可交互操作、集成化和人机和谐的方法     

船舶工程虚拟现实应用平台建设及研究

基于船舶工程虚拟现实平台建设过程中的技术与应用问题提出相应的解决办法.介绍了作为船舶工程虚拟现实系统所应达到的功能要求,以及与船舶设计、制造的相关问题.对虚拟现实应用和船舶工程仿真有一定的参考价值.     

Examining virtual reality as a platform for developing mental models of industrial systems

Industrial systems can be complex and not intuitive to perceive. Therefore, students in technology and engineering programs can benefit from developing mental models of industrial systems during their journey in college. However, more often than not, these students do not have access to industrial facilities; thus, developing mental models for systems is a challenge. This paper examines the merit of an Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) framework application in creating proper mental models for industrial systems in technology and engineering students. Two IVR applications were developed. One IVR application afforded interaction with components of a prefabricated industrial cooling water system (CWVR). In the other application, students designed and built industrial systems with IVR (system designer VR [SDVR]). SDVR facilitated constructive-generative engagement. A group of 33 students was divided into two; one group (the Design, experimental group) was tasked with building a system with SDVR and interacting with the cooling water system in CWVR. The other group was tasked with directly interacting with the CWVR without building a system with SDVR (the Interaction, comparison group). Students' mental models of the cooling water system in CWVR were evaluated following completing the interaction experience with CWVR. The results demonstrate that the causal model notion of the mental model of the cooling water system was significantly higher in the Design, experimental group. The results suggest that designing a rich IVR application that facilitates constructive-generative engagements may carry merit in informing student mental models of complex technical concepts.     

Motivational and cognitive benefits of training in immersive virtual reality based on multiple assessments

The main objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of immersive virtual reality (VR) as a medium for delivering laboratory safety training. We specifically compare an immersive VR simulation, a desktop VR simulation, and a conventional safety manual. The sample included 105 first year undergraduate engineering students (56 females).  We include five types of learning outcomes including post‐test enjoyment ratings; pre‐ to post‐test changes in intrinsic motivation and self‐efficacy; a post‐test multiple choice retention test; and two behavioral transfer tests. Results indicated that the groups did not differ on the immediate retention test, suggesting that all three media were equivalent in conveying the basic knowledge. However, significant differences were observed favoring the immersive VR group compared to the text group on the two transfer tests involving the solving problems in a physical lab setting (d = 0.54, d = 0.57), as well as enjoyment (d = 1.44) and increases in intrinsic motivation (d = 0.69) and self‐efficacy (d = 0.60). The desktop VR group scored significantly higher than the text group on one transfer test (d = 0.63) but not the other (d= 0.11), as well as enjoyment (d =1.11) and intrinsic motivation (d =0.83).     

浅谈分布式虚拟现实及其实时性研究

分布式虚拟现实系统简称DVR,是虚拟现实系统的一种类型,它是基于网络的虚拟环境。在这个环境中,位于不同物理环境位置的多个用户或多个虚拟环境通过网络相连接,或者多个用户同时参加一个虚拟现实环境,通过计算机与其他用户进行交互,并共享信息。在分布式虚拟现实系统中,多个q用户可通过网络对同一虚拟世界进行观察和操作,以达到协同工作的目的。简单地说是指一个支持多人实时通过网络进行交互的软件系统,每个用户在一个虚拟现实环境中,通过计算机与其它用户进行交互,并共享信息。     

浅谈分布式虚拟现实及其实时性研究

分布式虚拟现实系统简称DVR,是虚拟现实系统的一种类型,它是基于网络的虚拟环境。在这个环境中,位于不同物理环境位置的多个用户或多个虚拟环境通过网络相连接,或者多个用户同时参加一个虚拟现实环境,通过计算机与其他用户进行交互,并共享信息。在分布式虚拟现实系统中,多个q用户可通过网络对同一虚拟世界进行观察和操作,以达到协同工作的目的。简单地说是指一个支持多人实时通过网络进行交互的软件系统,每个用户在一个虚拟现实环境中,通过计算机与其它用户进行交互,并共享信息。     

集成虚拟现实环境在工程设计分析中的应用 *

虚拟现实技术在工程设计与分析上有很大的应用潜力。可是 ,虚拟环境的创建时间长、成本高,极大地限制了虚拟现实技术在工程上的应用。为此 ,提出了虚拟现实脚本生成器的概念,将虚拟现实技术与过程的设计、分析集成化,创造性地提出了一种自上而下的设计方法———VR-IEDA,以便高效、快速地创建虚拟原型,提高计算机虚拟复杂系统工程的性价比。在 VR-IEDA中复杂系统的结构和行为被计算机捕捉并自动生成可执行的 VR仿真代码 ,从而减少了创建虚拟环境的时间,便利了基于仿真的过程分析和设计。最后 ,以武器系统的维修过程为     

基于增强现实的虚拟实景空间漫游机制研究与实现

增强现实技术可以把计算机产生的虚拟物体或其它信息合成到用户看到的真实场景中.将增强现实技术与基于图像的绘制技术有机的结合起来,介绍了虚拟实景空间的构造,探讨了虚拟物体与实景空间的合成方法,给出了一种在虚拟实景空间中漫游的机制及其实现方法,综合考虑了机制的复杂度和漫游的自由度,在两者之间取得了平衡,该方法具有较好的实用性.     

Virtual reality in problem-based learning contexts: Effects on the problem-solving performance,vocabulary acquisition and motivation of English language learners

Learning a foreign language requires interaction with language input while involved in a task. Given that problem-based learning (PBL) offers hands-on application in realistic contexts, and that virtual reality (VR) enables learners to interact with multiple modalities of information, this study examines how the integration of VR technology into PBL contexts affects students' motivation for, problem-solving during, and vocabulary acquisition in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A total of 84 engineering majors who enrolled in a course of English for specific purposes were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Students in the experimental group participated in a VR-assisted PBL context, in which they were to view a PBL scenario using VR technology and then to create VR videos about solving the given problems. Those in the control group participated in a PBL context without the use of VR technology for viewing and solving the identical scenario. After the intervention, all the students wrote a problem-solving analysis, took a vocabulary knowledge test, completed a learning motivation questionnaire, and participated in individual interviews. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly outperformed those in the control group in terms of vocabulary acquisition, and were more motivated to learn English related to their future careers, whereas there was no significant difference in the problem-solving performance of the two groups. Implications of these findings highlight the value of engaging EFL learners in immersive environments for contextualized learning through the integrated use of VR and PBL.     

A comparative study using an autostereoscopic display with augmented and virtual reality

Advances in display devices are facilitating the integration of stereoscopic visualisation in our daily lives. However, autostereoscopic visualisation has not been extensively exploited. In this paper, we present a system that combines augmented reality (AR) and autostereoscopic visualisation. We also present the first study that compares different aspects using an autostereoscopic display with AR and virtual reality (VR), in which 39 children from 8 to 10 years old participated. In our study, no statistically significant differences were found between AR and VR. However, the scores were very high in nearly all of the questions, and the children also scored the AR version higher in all cases. Moreover, the children explicitly preferred the AR version (81%). For the AR version, a strong and significant correlation was found between the use of the autostereoscopic screen in games and seeing the virtual object on the marker. For the VR version, two strong and significant correlations were found. The first correlation was between the ease of play and the use of the rotatory controller. The second correlation was between depth perception and the game global score. Therefore, the combinations of AR and VR with autostereoscopic visualisation are possibilities for developing edutainment systems for children.