A pilot study on the use of immersive technologies in the teaching of automotive technology students

Immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and 360° videos have typical applications in the entertainment industry. However, recent studies have shown the potential use of these tools for teaching and training purposes. In this pilot, we explored the use of VR in teaching students the basics of assembling a motor block. Students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a VR condition, a 360° movie condition, or a traditional movie condition. In each condition, students were guided through the different steps required to assemble a motor block. Afterwards, experienced immersion (i.e., personal involvement, experienced realism, and spatial awareness) and acquired knowledge were assessed using an online questionnaire. Results showed no significant difference in acquired knowledge across the three conditions. However, when subjects felt more personally involved within the VR condition, their performance rose significantly. Experienced realism and spatial awareness had no impact on the test scores. This pilot showed that the use of immersive technologies can result in at least similar testing scores and could be used complementary to traditional teaching styles. Nevertheless, the discussion on how to implement and use these technologies to their full potential in these settings is still ongoing.status: publishe

Maximizing the generalization of fear extinction: Exposures to a peak generalization stimulus

Experimental research has shown that generalization of fear extinction from a generalization stimulus (GS) is minimal compared to generalization of fear extinction from the conditional stimulus itself (CS+). This poses a challenge to extinction-based treatments of anxiety because the exact CS is often not known or unavailable. However, experimental studies failed to disentangle differences in stimulus identity (CS + or GS) from differences in the level of fear (GS typically elicits less fear than CS+). Here, we test the hypothesis that a high level of fear is key to extinction learning and generalization, rather than the identity of the stimulus under extinction (CS + or GS). For that purpose, we took advantage of the peak-shift phenomenon that describes the conditions under which a GS can elicit equal or higher levels of responding, compared to the CS+. Hence, we compared the generalizability of fear extinction following exposure to the CS + itself, to a 'weak' GS that elicits less fear, and to a 'peak' GS that elicits as much fear as the CS+. First, the results replicated, with a new set of stimuli, the observation that extinction of a skin conductance response and US-expectancy generalizes only weakly from a weak GS to CS+. Second, extinction generalized strongly from a peak GS towards CS+, as hypothesized. Third, extinction with the peak GS even outperformed extinction with the CS+, as it generalized more strongly across the generalization gradient. Together, these results support exposure treatment strategies that focus on the fear-eliciting potential of stimuli (often described as a fear hierarchy), rather than their learning history. We propose that stimulus typicality and/or intensity may explain the enhanced effects of a 'peak' GS over the CS+ in enhancing the generalization of fear extinction.status: publishe

Increasing predictive estimations without further learning: The peak-shift effect

The peak of learned responding normally occurs at the learning stimulus itself, but can shift to a different stimulus after discriminative learning. This provides important information about the nature of the generalization mechanism, and reveals alternative pathways through which learned responses can increase. Over two experiments, we established the peak-shift effect in a human predictive learning paradigm. Participants were asked to predict the occurrence of a neutral outcome (drawing of a lightning bolt) based on preceding geometrical figures (rings of different sizes). During learning, the middle-sized ring was sometimes followed by the outcome, whereas a larger ring was never followed by the outcome. At test, we presented larger and smaller rings (Experiment 1), or only a slightly smaller ring (Experiment 2). We consistently observed highest prediction of the outcome to the slightly smaller ring. Predictive estimations in humans can reach their height to stimuli that have never actually participated in the learning experiences. We argue that the results are most in line with an associative learning account, rather than an adaptation-level or a rule-learning account.status: publishe

Gradients of fear: How perception influences fear generalization

The current experiment investigated whether overgeneralization of fear could be due to an inability to perceptually discriminate the initial fear-evoking stimulus from similar stimuli, as fear learning induced perceptual impairments have been reported but their influence on generalization gradients remain to be elucidated. Three hundred and sixty-eight healthy volunteers participated in a differential fear conditioning paradigm with circles of different sizes as conditioned stimuli (CS), of which one was paired to an aversive IAPS picture. During generalization, each subject was presented with one of 10 different sized circles including the CSs, and were asked to categorize the stimulus as either a CS or as novel after fear responses were recorded. Linear mixed models were used to investigate differences in fear generalization gradients depending on the participant’s perception of the test stimulus. We found that the incorrect perception of a novel stimulus as the initial fear evoking stimulus strongly boosted fear responses. The current findings demonstrate that a significant number of novel stimuli used to assess generalization are incorrectly identified as the initial fear evoking stimulus, providing a perceptual account for the observed overgeneralization in panic and anxiety disorders. Accordingly, enhancing perceptual processing may be a promising treatment for targeting excessive fear generalization.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Gradients of fear: How perception influences fear generalization journaltitle: Behaviour Research and Therapy articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2017.04.001 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.status: publishe

A pilot study on the use of immersive technologies in the teaching of automotive technology students

status: publishe