The Impact of a Self-Avatar on Cognitive Load in Immersive Virtual Reality

The use of a self-avatar inside an immersive virtual reality system has been shown to have important effects on presence, interaction and perception of space. Based on studies from linguistics and cognition, in this paper we demonstrate that a self-avatar may aid the participant’s cognitive processes while immersed in a virtual reality system. In our study participants were asked to memorise pairs of letters, perform a spatial rotation exercise and then recall the pairs of letters. In a between-subject factor they either had an avatar or not, and in a within-subject factor they were instructed to keep their hands still or not. We found that participants who both had an avatar and were allowed to move their hands had significantly higher letter pair recall. There was no significant difference between the other three conditions. Further analysis showed that participants who were allowed to move their hands, but could not see the self-avatar, usually didn’t move their hands or stopped moving their hands after a short while. We argue that an active self-avatar may alleviate the mental load of doing the spatial rotation exercise and thus improve letter recall. The results are further evidence of the importance of an appropriate self-avatar representation in immersive virtual reality

Does the Embodiment Influence the Success of Visuo-haptic Learning?

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the influence of embodiment on the success of Visuo-haptic Learning, as it has not been yet investigated by current literature. With this aim, we conducted an experimental campaign to compare the users’ Sense of Embodiment (SoE) and learning success values obtained by experiencing the same simulated duty cycle within two different Visuo-haptic Learning environments. Interesting results have been found: the embodiment influenced the users’ completion time and mental workload, but it did not have particular incidence on the obtained learning level (intended as knowledge of the procedure). With this work, we aim to highlight the necessity of conducting wider and deeper studies about the influence of human factors and subjective perceptions on the success of Visuo-haptic Learning

Virtual Reality: Prospective Catalyst for Restorative Justice

A 2018 U.S. Department of Justice report assessing data from thirty states found that eighty-three percent of those individuals released from state prisons in 2005 were rearrested within nine years.** When a revolving door ushers five of six individuals back into custody and decimates communities, more effective approaches to criminal justice demand attention. In countries around the world, restorative justice has been emerging as a promising candidate. It generally involves an interactive process in which stakeholders identify and grapple with harms caused by the crime. But many environments lack the resources to invoke its benefits. While restorative justice takes various forms, the crux of each variant involves perspective taking-seeing the harm and its consequences through the eyes of those who experienced it. Cognitive science research suggests that the emerging technology of virtual reality affords an innovative and often especially compelling approach to perspective taking. Embodying an avatar through virtual reality unlocks the opportunity to experience the world as another. Avatars could make virtual perspective-taking encounters a valuable introduction for subsequent in-person encounters or offer a perspective-taking opportunity when inperson encounters are not practical or prudent. This Article explores how virtual reality could become a catalyst for restorative justice

A Digital Future in Virtual Reality — Insights for Training

Virtual reality is now being used throughout various sectors. It is a tool which is being increasingly relied upon to support cost-effective and safe opportunities to build skills development. There has, however, been little research into whether a virtual environment provides the same effectiveness as a real-world environment. For virtual reality to be an effective tool, we must better understand the impact of using it. To determine this, we investigate whether there is an additional cognitive load when operating in a virtual environment and we measure whether such a load impacts upon an individual’s performance. Through the use of a ‘quadrant’ study in both real and virtual environments and with both the presence and absence of a secondary task, we identified that there is no significant cognitive load added when working within the virtual environment, and so the use of virtual reality can indeed be effective in terms of comparative performance with the real-world. This research was conducted with approval of the Human Research Ethics Committee (Tasmania) Network; the reference number for the study is: H0018156

Avatar Type Affects Performance of Cognitive Tasks in Virtual Reality

Current consumer virtual reality applications typically represent the user by an avatar comprising a simple head/torso and decoupled hands. In the prior work of Steed et al. it was shown that the presence or absence of an avatar could have a significant impact on the cognitive load of the user. We extend that work in two ways. First they only used a full-body avatar with articulated arms, so we add a condition with hands-only representation similar to the majority of current consumer applications. Second we provide a real-world benchmark so as to start to get at the impact of using any immersive system. We validate the prior results: real and full body avatar performance on a memory task is significantly better than no avatar. However the hands only condition is not significantly different than either these two extremes. We discuss why this might be, in particular we discuss the potential for a individual variation in response to the embodiment level

Rehabilitative devices for a top-down approach

In recent years, neurorehabilitation has moved from a "bottom-up" to a "top down" approach. This change has also involved the technological devices developed for motor and cognitive rehabilitation. It implies that during a task or during therapeutic exercises, new "top-down" approaches are being used to stimulate the brain in a more direct way to elicit plasticity-mediated motor re-learning. This is opposed to "Bottom up" approaches, which act at the physical level and attempt to bring about changes at the level of the central neural system. Areas covered: In the present unsystematic review, we present the most promising innovative technological devices that can effectively support rehabilitation based on a top-down approach, according to the most recent neuroscientific and neurocognitive findings. In particular, we explore if and how the use of new technological devices comprising serious exergames, virtual reality, robots, brain computer interfaces, rhythmic music and biofeedback devices might provide a top-down based approach. Expert commentary: Motor and cognitive systems are strongly harnessed in humans and thus cannot be separated in neurorehabilitation. Recently developed technologies in motor-cognitive rehabilitation might have a greater positive effect than conventional therapies

Dancing with the Avatars: Minimal Avatar Customisation Enhances Learning in a Psychomotor Task

Virtual environments can support psychomotor learning by allowing learners to observe instructor avatars. Instructor avatars that look like the learner hold promise in enhancing learning; however, it is unclear whether this works for psychomotor tasks and how similar avatars need to be. We investigated ‘minimal’ customisation of instructor avatars, approximating a learner’s appearance by matching only key visual features: gender, skin-tone, and hair colour. These avatars can be created easily and avoid problems of highly similar avatars. Using modern dancing as a skill to learn, we compared the effects of visually similar and dissimilar avatars, considering both learning on a screen (n=59) and in VR (n=38). Our results indicate that minimal avatar customisation leads to significantly more vivid visual imagery of the dance moves than dissimilar avatars. We analyse variables affecting interindividual differences, discuss the results in relation to theory, and derive design implications for psychomotor training in virtual environments