Exploring individual user differences in the 2D/3D interaction with medical image data

User-centered design is often performed without regard to individual user differences. In this paper, we report results of an empirical study aimed to evaluate whether computer experience and demographic user characteristics would have an effect on the way people interact with the visualized medical data in a 3D virtual environment using 2D and 3D input devices. We analyzed the interaction through performance data, questionnaires and observations. The results suggest that differences in gender, age and game experience have an effect on people’s behavior and task performance, as well as on subjective\ud user preferences

Il miglioramento delle capacità cognitive nei bambini attraverso la valutazione dinamica in ambienti immersivi di Realtà Virtuale 3D

Increasing evidence reveals the efficacy of dynamic assessment (DA) procedure in providing rich and reliable feedback regarding children’s cognitive modifiability. The DA procedure included four phases: pre-teaching test, teaching, post-teaching and transfer test two weeks after teaching. The teaching phase includes mediated learning experience strategies. Children’s cognitive modifiability was examined by pre- to post-teaching improvementand by the transfer test. Children in Grades 1 and 2 (n ¼ 117) were randomly assigned into three experimental groups and one control group. Each of the experimental groups was given the teaching phase in a different modality:3D Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR, n ¼ 36), 2D (n ¼ 36), and tangible blocks (TB, n ¼ 24). The control group (n¼ 21) was not given teaching phase. The teaching phase included strategies of solving problems from the AnalogiesSubtest of the Cognitive Modifiability Battery (CMB). Pre- and post-teaching CMB Analogies tests were administered to all groups followed by CMB Transfer Analogies two weeks later. The findings indicate that the 2D and TBgroups showed higher cognitive modifiability than the control group. Also, the findings indicate that teaching in a 3D IVR environment contributed to the children’s cognitive modifiability more than in the other groups in theCMB Transfer Analogies. The findings are discussed in relation to the unique enhancing characteristics of the 3D IVR condition combined with the applied mediation strategies.Una crescente evidenza rivela l’efficacia della procedura di valutazione dinamica (DA) nel fornire un feedback ricco e affidabile per quanto riguarda la modificabilità cognitiva dei bambini. La procedura DA prevedeva quattro fasi:test di pre-insegnamento, insegnamento, post-insegnamento e test di trasferimento due settimane dopo l’insegnamento.La fase di insegnamento comprende strategie di esperienza di apprendimento mediato. La modificabilità cognitiva dei bambini è stata esaminata mediante miglioramento di pre- e post-insegnamento e prova di trasferimento.I bambini nei gradi 1 e 2 (n ¼ 117) sono stati assegnati casualmente in tre gruppi sperimentali e un gruppo di controllo. A ciascuno dei gruppi sperimentali è stata fornita la fase di insegnamento in diverse modalità: Realtàvirtuale Immersiva 3D (IVR, n ¼ 36), 2D (n ¼ 36), e blocchi tangibili (TB, n ¼ 24). Al gruppo di controllo (n ¼ 21) non è stata fornita la fase di insegnamento. La fase di insegnamento comprendeva strategie di soluzione dei problemidel Subtest di Analogie della Batteria di Modificabilità Cognitiva (CMB). I test di Anologie CMB di pre- e postinsegnamento sono stati somministrati a tutti i gruppi seguiti da Analogie di Trasferimento CMB due settimane dopo. I risultati indicano che i gruppi 2D e TB mostrano maggiore modificabilità cognitiva rispetto al gruppo di controllo. Inoltre, i risultati indicano che l’insegnamento in un ambiente 3D IVR contribuisce alla modificabilità cognitiva dei bambini in misura maggiore rispetto agli altri gruppi nelle Analogie di Trasferimento CMB. I risultati sono discussi in relazione alle caratteristiche uniche di valorizzazione della condizione 3D IVR combinata con le strategie di mediazione applicata

Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2000)

The proceedings of the conferenc

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on fifteen research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC00117National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract P01-DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01-DC22402National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant 2 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00270National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC-5-2107National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00100U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-95-K-0014U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Grant N00014-93-1-1399U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Grant N00014-94-1-1079U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Subcontract 40167U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814National Institutes of Health Grant R01-NS33778U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NCC 2-771U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-94-1-0236U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Agreement with Brandeis Universit

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2 and reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health Contract 2 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 1 R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC22402National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC001001National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-1198National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Ames Research Center Grant NCC 2-77

Use of virtual reality environments to improve the learning of historical chronology.

Past evidence suggest that people acquire poor understanding of chronology during their education, and studies such as that of Masterman and Rogers (Instructional Science, 30, 2002) have suggested that technology might be employed to improve history teaching. The difficulty that children have with the concepts of time and chronology arise probably because of their abstract nature, and teachers indicated in questionnaire responses that they would welcome the availability of effective history teaching paradigms. A pioneering attempt was made to exploit a new paradigm, Virtual Environment (VE) technology that ought to engage high-capacity spatial memory, to improve participants’ learning of chronology. Three age groups (undergraduates, middle school, and primary school children) were trained in virtual space to learn sequences of events, visited successively as though travelling in a time machine. Controls saw the same events but as paper text/pictures or as PowerPoint slides. In the initial part of the project one nine-item time line was used. Undergraduates remembered more when tested immediately after training with a VE, especially when challenged to remember each up-coming event. Primary school children in UK, and Ukraine, (with, and without, regular computer experience) also did so, when provided with adequate pre-training with the medium. Only middle school children persistently failed to benefit from VE training, despite the use of a variety of materials and despite repeated training after one month on one occasion. Two and three parallel timelines were employed, depicting music and art history, and the history of psychology, art and general history, respectively. A substantial benefit was seen when undergraduates used a large spatial environment which allowed them to view across three parallel timelines. It was concluded that VEs have potential as a means of imparting better chronological knowledge than other media so long as they are sufficiently challenging. Alternative paradigms need to be developed which improve the longevity of historical learning from VEs

Proceedings of the 9th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2012)

The proceedings of the conferenc

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on fourteen research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC00117National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC02032National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R01 DC00270National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC52107U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-95-K-0014U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-96-K-0003U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-96-1-0379U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-95-1-0176U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-96-1-0202U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Subcontract 40167U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-96-K-0002National Institutes of Health Grant R01-NS33778U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-184