Abstract
Objective and subjective measures of performance in virtual reality environments increase as more sensory cues are delivered and as simulation fidelity increases. Some cues (colour or sound) are easier to present than others (object weight, vestibular cues) so that substitute cues can be used to enhance informational content in a simulation at the expense of simulation fidelity. This study evaluates how substituting cues in one modality by alternative cues in another modality affects subjective and objective performance measures in a highly immersive virtual reality environment. Participants performed a wheel change in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Auditory, haptic and visual cues, signalling critical events in the simulation, were manipulated in a factorial design. Subjective ratings were recorded via questionnaires. The time taken to complete the task was used as an objective performance measure. The results show that participants performed best and felt an increased sense of immersion and involvement, collectively referred to as ‘presence’, when substitute multimodal sensory feedback was provided. Significant main effects of audio and tactile cues on task performance and on participants' subjective ratings were found. A significant negative relationship was found between the objective (overall completion times) and subjective (ratings of presence) performance measures. We conclude that increasing informational content, even if it disrupts fidelity, enhances performance and user’s overall experience. On this basis we advocate the use of substitute cues in VR environments as an efficient method to enhance performance and user experience.
Highlights
Virtual reality (VR) environments are commonly used for training, research, interpersonal communication, data visualisation and many other purposes [1,2,3,4] and as such a continuous optimisation and evaluation of the effectiveness of these systems is required
In order to support training and performance in VR environments it is essential to provide necessary sensory cues that are required for the task
The results from our study show that substitute multimodal sensory feedback that might detract from the overall fidelity of VR environment can enhance overall task performance as well as the users’ perceived sense of presence
Summary
Virtual reality (VR) environments are commonly used for training, research, interpersonal communication, data visualisation and many other purposes [1,2,3,4] and as such a continuous optimisation and evaluation of the effectiveness of these systems is required. There is substantial evidence that improvements in simulation fidelity, the degree to which VR technology delivers an objectively measurable match to real-world sensory signals, (Immersion, in Slater’s terminology [5,6,7]), improves performance in VR training environments [8,9,10,11,12]. It is tempting to stimulate as many sensory modalities as possible to provide the greatest possible simulation fidelity. For example, is progress in providing haptic cues [1,2,3,4,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26] there still are significant challenges [14, 27] that can make some tasks more difficult and decrease overall task efficiency [15] when haptic cues are presented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call