An investigation of the impact of immersive virtual reality practice on visual and mechanical abilities

Immersive virtual reality (VR) systems have recently become widely available to the
lay public. With this recent availability, many researchers and clinicians are introducing VR for
training of new motor skills, including occupational techniques, sport-specific drills, and
rehabilitation of movement disorders. The benefit of using VR for motor skill training is that,
compared to real-world (RW) training, VR requires less space, is more cost-effective, and the
training environment can be tightly controlled. However, the foundational physiological
implications of VR training compared to RW training are not well-known. Because the virtual
environment differs perceptually (i.e. appears different) than the RW, and people adjust their
movement patterns in a virtual environment, it is possible that a motor skill learned in a virtual
environment does not transfer well to the RW. In this ongoing study, our research group is
assessing how a cohort of healthy participants performs a RW dart-throwing task following 30
minutes of training in either virtual or real environments. We are performing two assessments:
1) how visual discomfort symptoms are affected by use of a VR system. If a person
demonstrates a high level of visual discomfort, then this could affect how they are perceiving
their environment. 2) How a person learns the dart-throwing motion in either a virtual or real
environment. If the motion is learned differently in VR, then performance in the RW could be
negatively impacted. This interdisciplinary collaboration study will inform future work as to how
VR training can affect human vision and movement.