The effects of Above Real-Time Training (ARTT) in an F-16 simulator

In this application of above real-time training (ARTT), 24 mission-capable F-16 pilots performed three tasks on a part-task F-16A flight simulator under varying levels of time compression (i.e., 1.0x, 1.5x, 2.0x, and random). All subjects were then tested in a real-time (1.0x) environment. The three tasks under study were an emergency procedure (EP) task, a one versus two air combat maneuvering (ACM) task, and a stern conversion or air intercept task. All ARTT pilots performed the EP task with 28 percent greater accuracy and were better at dealing with a simultaneous MIG threat, reflected by a six-fold increase in the number of MIG kills compared to a real-time control group. In the stern conversion task, there were no statistical differences between groups. In the ACM task, those pilots trained in the mixed time accelerations were faster to acquire lock and were faster to kill both MIG threats than the other groups. These findings are generally consistent with previous findings that show positive effects of task variations (including time variations) during training. Also discussed are related research findings that support the benefits of ARTT and ARTT's impact on emergency procedure training. Further, a synthesis of multidiscipline research outlining the underlying theoretical basis for ARTT is presented. A proposed model of ARTT based on an analogy to Einstein's theory of special relativity is suggested. Conclusions and an outline of future research directions are presented. Successful current commercialization efforts are related as well as future efforts

Duration and exposure to virtual environments: Sickness curves during and across sessions

Although simulator sickness is known to increase with protracted exposure and to diminish with repeated sessions, limited systematic research has been performed in these areas. This study reviewed the few studies with sufficient information available to determine the effect-that exposure duration and repeated exposure have on motion sickness. This evaluation confirmed that longer exposures produce more symptoms and that total sickness subsides over repeated exposures. Additional evaluation was performed to investigate the precise form of this relationship and to determine whether the same form was generalizable across varied simulator environments. The results indicated that exposure duration and repeated exposures are significantly linearly related to sickness outcomes (duration being positively related and repetition negatively related to total sickness). This was true over diverse systems and large subject pools. This result verified the generalizability of-the relationships among sickness, exposure duration, and repeated exposures. Additional research is indicated to determine the optimal length of a single exposure and the optimal intersession interval to facilitate adaptation

Toward systematic control of cybersickness

Visually induced motion sickness, or cybersickness, has been well documented in all kinds of vehicular simulators and in many virtual environments. It probably occurs in all virtual environments. Cybersickness has many known determinants, including (a short list) field-of-view, flicker, transport delays, duration of exposure, gender, and susceptibility to motion sickness. Since many of these determinants can be controlled, a major objective in designing virtual environments is to hold cybersickness below a specified level a specified proportion of the time. More than 20 years ago C. W. Simon presented a research strategy based on fractional factorial experiments that was capable in principle of realizing this objective. With one notable exception, however, this strategy was not adopted by the human factors community. The main reason was that implementing Simon\u27s strategy was a major undertaking, very time-consuming, and very costly. In addition, many investigators were not satisfied that Simon had adequately addressed issues of statistical reliability. The present paper proposes a modified Simonian approach to the sate objective (holding cybersickness below specified standards) with some loss in the range of application but a greatly reduced commitment of resources

Configural Scoring of Simulator Sickness, Cybersickness and Space Adaptation Syndrome: Similarities and Differences?

From a survey of ten U.S. Navy flight simulators a large number (N > 1,600 exposures) of self-reports of motion sickness symptomatology were obtained. Using these data, scoring algorithms were derived, which permit examination of groups of individuals that can be scored either for 1) their total sickness experience in a particular device; or, 2) according to three separable symptom clusters which emerged from a Factor Analysis. Scores from this total score are found to be proportional to other global motion sickness symptom checklist scores with which they correlate (r = 0.82). The factors that surfaced from the analysis include clusters of symptoms referable as nausea, oculomotor disturbances, and disorientation (N, 0, and D). The factor scores may have utility in differentiating the source of symptoms in different devices. The present chapter describes our experience with the use of both of these types of scores and illustrates their use with examples from flight simulators, space sickness and virtual environments

NaviFields: relevance fields for adaptive VR navigation

Virtual Reality allow users to explore virtual environments naturally, by moving their head and body. However, the size of the environments they can explore is limited by real world constraints, such as the tracking technology or the physical space available. Existing techniques removing these limitations often break the metaphor of natural navigation in VR (e.g. steering techniques), involve control commands (e.g., teleporting) or hinder precise navigation (e.g., scaling user's displacements). This paper proposes NaviFields, which quantify the requirements for precise navigation of each point of the environment, allowing natural navigation within relevant areas, while scaling users' displacements when travelling across non-relevant spaces. This expands the size of the navigable space, retains the natural navigation metaphor and still allows for areas with precise control of the virtual head. We present a formal description of our NaviFields technique, which we compared against two alternative solutions (i.e., homogeneous scaling and natural navigation). Our results demonstrate our ability to cover larger spaces, introduce minimal disruption when travelling across bigger distances and improve very significantly the precise control of the viewpoint inside relevant areas

Realizing The Full Potential Of Virtual Reality: Human Factors Issues That Could Stand In The Way

This paper reviews several significant human factors issues that could stand in the way of virtual reality realizing its full potential. These issues involve maximizing human performance efficiency in virtual environments, minimizing health and safety issues, and circumventing potential social issues through proactive assessment

Effects of diversity in field articulation on human-computer performance

Past studies have shown that spatial ability is a good predictor of computer performance. This study investigated diversity in field-articulation between individuals with high and low spatial ability in order to determine how this diversity might explain differences in computer performance. Field-articulation was suggested to influence performance on tasks which required cognitive restructuring skills. This study compared the performance of two typical computer tasks by field-dependent and field-independent subjects as a function of the amount of structuring of system information required to create the task environment. A three dimensional (task complexity, quality of integration, and level of differentiation) conceptual model of field-articulation was proposed. A conceptual model of the interaction between concurrent task processing demands and structuring requirements was hypothesized to explain differences in memory organization which were suggested to lead to computer performance differences. These models were tested with 36 subjects, 18 identified as field-dependent and 18 identified as field-independent. The subjects performed both a computer information search and spreadsheet task under three task conditions, two structured by the experimenter and one by the subjects. Planned comparison results for the performance time variable indicated that the field-independent group performed significantly faster than the field-dependent group under all three task conditions. Planned comparison results for the memory organization variable indicated that the field-dependent group imposed significantly less organization on task information than the field-independent group under the condition requiring system structuring. Post hoc regression results provided some indication that this difference in organization may have resulted in the significantly slower performance of the field-dependent group under this condition. Under the task conditions structured by the experimenter, no significant differences in memory organization were detected between the two subject groups. However, significant computer performance differences were detected. Post hoc regression results provided some indication that performance time was not related to memory organization under the structured condition which did not require concurrent processing

Enhancing The Fidelity Of Virtual Environments Through The Manipulation Of Virtual Time

This paper investigates the benefits of manipulating simulated time in virtual environments. Above real time training in virtual environments was tested by having subjects perform a simple tracking and targeting task under two levels of time compression in a virtual environment (real-time or l.Ox and 1.7x). Results indicated that within both subject groups (l.Ox and 1.7x), there were no significant differences detected between the perceived temporal and mental demands of the testing and training phases. This indicates that the VT group did not perceive the change in temporal demands between the training (1.7x) and the testing (l.Ox) phases. There were, however, significant differences in the perceived temporal demands between subject groups. The VT group perceived less temporal demands during the testing (l.Ox) phase than the control group. This perceived reduction could be potentially beneficial for time-critical tasks, where training to ready responses is essential for effective task performance. In addition, training under the accelerated time condition did not lead to any negative transfer of training. © 1995 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved