Abstract
Daily-life behaviors strongly rely on visuomotor integration, a complex sensorimotor process with obvious plasticity. Visual-perceptive and visual-cognitive functions are degraded by neurological disorders and brain damage, but are improved by vision training, e.g. in athletes. Hence, developing tools to evaluate/improve visuomotor abilities has found echo among psychologists, neurophysiologists, clinicians and sport professionals. Here we implemented the Dynavision visuomotor reaction task in virtual reality (VR) to get a flexible tool to place high demands on visual-perceptive and visual-cognitive processes, and explore individual abilities in visuomotor integration. First, we demonstrated high test–retest reliability for the task in VR among healthy physically-active students (n = 64, 32 females). Second, the capture of head movements thanks to the VR-headset sensors provided new and reliable information on individual visual-perceptual strategies, which added significant value to explore visuomotor phenotypes. A factor analysis of mixed data and hierarchical clustering on principal components points to head movements, video-games practice and ball-tracking sports as critical cues to draw visuomotor phenotypes among our participants. We conclude that the visuomotor task in VR is a reliable, flexible and promising tool. Since VR nowadays can serve e.g. to modulate multisensorial integration by creating visual interoceptive-exteroceptive conflicts, or placing specifically designed cognitive demand, much could be learned on complex integrated visuomotor processes through VR experiments. This offers new perspectives for post brain injury risk evaluation, rehabilitation programs and visual-cognitive training.
Highlights
Daily-life behaviors strongly rely on visuomotor integration, a complex sensorimotor process with obvious plasticity
The main finding of the present study was that the visuomotor task implemented here in virtual reality (VMVR), inspired by the Dynavision visuomotor reaction task, provides reliable evaluations of classic visuomotor cues, and provides new and reliable information on head movements
Cues on head movements are essential for exploring visuomotor phenotypes, as demonstrated here subsequently by the hierarchical clustering on principal component analysis
Summary
Daily-life behaviors strongly rely on visuomotor integration, a complex sensorimotor process with obvious plasticity. This plasticity is exemplified by degraded functions associated with neurological disease, which strongly contrasts with enhanced eyehand coordination in sport experts after practice of vision training. In both cases there is an emerging need to place high visual-perceptive and cognitive-motor demands, e.g. in rehabilitation programs to restore impaired visuomotor integration associated to brain damage[2,3], or in athletic programs to improve psychomotor skills and the overall individual p erformance[4,5,6], thanks to potential on-field t ransfer[7,8]. The task places high demand on visual-perceptive and visual-cognitive functions and intends to evaluate eye-hand visuomotor abilities, with possible focus on specific visual search fields (upper, lower or Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:587
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