Validity of Virtual Reality Training for Motor Skill Development in a Serious Game

Abstract

Accurate simulation within virtual environments is a prerequisite of using these environments for training tasks. This accuracy has been shown to be a function of the fidelity in many senses. Virtual Reality (VR) has been used to aid in numerous training tasks through the implementation of pedagogical processes via the medium of serious games. This paper considers a complex motor task and whether VR is able to be used as a training environment for this task. Additionally we consider whether augmented virtuality improves task performance. The task being analysed is participant ability in a clay pigeon shooting simulator. Specifically, we evaluate if the type of training being presented influences the performance of participants in this task. VR affords the ability to provide supplementary information which is not typically available in a real-world equivalency. This paper presents a between-subjects repeated measures experiment to identify if the type of training being presented influences performance measures in the motor task. Clay pigeon shooting is considered to be a difficult sport as it requires depth-perception, lead calculation and accurate timing from the shooter. This paper shows that different types of training presented to a participant (N=31) can influence their performance in this task, and that this skill development propagates into future repeated measures. It is also shown that training for this type of task, which is frame-critical, can be deployed with success into the safer environment of VR.