The impact of olfactory stimuli on foreign language vocabulary acquisition in an immersive virtual reality environment

The use of a collaborative virtual reality environment for training and virtual tours has been increasingly recognized an as alternative to traditional reallife tours for university campuses. Our proposed application shows an immersive collaborative virtual reality environment for performing virtual online campus tours and evacuation drills using Oculus Rift head mounted displays. The immersive collaborative virtual reality environment also offers a unique way for training in emergencies for campus safety. The participant can enter the collaborative virtual reality environment setup on the cloud and participate in the evacuation drill or a tour which leads to considerable cost advantages over large scale real life exercises. This paper presents an experimental design approach to gather data on human behavior and emergency response in a university campus environment among a set of players in an immersive virtual reality environment. We present three ways for controlling crowd behavior: by defining rules for computer simulated agents, by providing controls to the users to navigate in the VR environment as autonomous agents, and by providing controls to the users with a keyboard/ joystick along with an immersive VR head set in real time. Our contribution lies in our approach to combine these three methods of behavior in order to perform virtual evacuation drills and virtual tours in a multi-user virtual reality environment for a university campus. Results from this study can be used to measure the effectiveness of current safety, security, and evacuation procedure for campus safety.

Graduate students need a wide range of professional skills, and shaping is one of the critical skills they must learn. This study trained graduate students to acquire shaping skills in an immersive virtual reality environment using the Portable Operant Research Teaching Lab (PORTL). To date, no known study has (a) evaluated the effectiveness of shaping skills training for graduate students or (b) attempted to teach these skills in a virtual environment. We used a single-case A-B design across participants with three graduate students who learned shaping skills in an immersive virtual reality environment using the PORTL curriculum. The shaping skills comprised creating a teaching plan, setting up for a session, delivering reinforcement, and evaluating a session. For all participants, training resulted in improvement in shaping skills. Participants also maintained the shaping skills for a minimum of two weeks. Further, the effect of the training generalized to a novel confederate learner for all participants. Additionally, participants showed high satisfaction with learning shaping skills in an immersive virtual reality (iVR) environment.

The effects of colour attributes on cognitive performance and intellectual abilities in immersive virtual environments

Objective: This study aims to investigate the influence of immersive virtual reality environments and gamification on the classification of motor imaginary (MI) signals and the associated increase in energy in the motor cortex region considering differences across age groups. Approach: Two immersive virtual environments, categorized as indoor and outdoor, were chosen, each encompassing gamified and non-gamified scenarios. Investigations into Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) data were performed to determine the presence of significant discrepancies in ERD levels among varying age groups and to assess if Fully Immersive Virtual Reality (FIVR) environments prompted marked enhancements in energy levels. Main results: The preliminary analysis revealed a significant difference in cortical energy increase between gamified and non-gamified environments in the 32-43 age group (Group II). The study also explored the impact of environmental factors on MI signal classification using four deep learning algorithms. The Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) classifier exhibited the highest performance, with an average accuracy of 86.83%. Signals recorded indoors showed higher average classification performance, with a significant difference observed among age groups. The 21-24 age group (Group I) performed better in non-gamified environments (88.8%), whereas Group II performed well indoors, particularly in the gamified scenario (93.6%). Significance: The study is significant because it demonstrates how different immersive virtual environments and gamification affect performance in imaginary motor signal classification and cortical energy changes across age groups. This research holds importance as it showcases the impact of design variations within immersive virtual environments on enhancing the efficacy of brain-computer interface-driven systems. It underscores the necessity for further comprehensive investigations in this field.

Nowadays, virtual reality technologies and immersive virtual reality (VR) apps allow people to view, explore, engage with and learn about historic monuments and buildings, historic sites, and even historic scenes. To preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. it is essential that damaged and dilapidated historic artefacts are accurately documented, and that steps are taken to improve user experiences in the areas of virtual visits, science and education. This paper describes an approach to reconstruct and restore historic buildings and mural paintings. The work process uses digital models that are then inserted into an interactive and immersive VR environment. Windows-Mixed Reality is used to visualize the said VR environment. The work method was applied at a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), thereby creating a virtual three dimensional (3D) rendering of the architectural structures of the St Augustine Church in La Laguna and its murals. A combination of topography and terrestrial photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its architectural features, and the digital imaging tool DStretch® to recover its murals. The resulting 3D model was then inserted into an immersive and interactive VR environment created using the cross-platform game engine Unity. One of the greatest challenges of this project revolved around recovering the dilapidated and virtually nonexistent mural paintings using DStretch®. However, the final result is an immersive and interactive VR environment containing architectural and artistic information created within the video game engine Unity, which thereby allows the user to explore, observe and interact with a cultural heritage site in real time.

Immersive virtual reality systems have the potential to transform the manner in which designers create prototypes and collaborate in teams. Using technologies such as the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, a designer can attain a sense of “presence” and “immersion” typically not experienced by traditional CAD-based platforms. However, one of the fundamental challenges of creating a high quality immersive virtual reality experience is actually creating the immersive virtual reality environment itself. Typically, designers spend a considerable amount of time manually designing virtual models that replicate physical, real world artifacts. While there exists the ability to import standard 3D models into these immersive virtual reality environments, these models are typically generic in nature and do not represent the designer’s intent. To mitigate these challenges, the authors of this work propose the real time translation of physical objects into an immersive virtual reality environment using readily available RGB-D sensing systems and standard networking connections. The emergence of commercial, off-the shelf RGB-D sensing systems such as the Microsoft Kinect, have enabled the rapid 3D reconstruction of physical environments. The authors present a methodology that employs 3D mesh reconstruction algorithms and real time rendering techniques to capture physical objects in the real world and represent their 3D reconstruction in an immersive virtual realilty environment with which the user can then interact. A case study involving a commodity RGB-D sensor and multiple computers connected through standard TCP internet connections is presented to demonstrate the viability of the proposed methodology.

This study proposes gaze-based hand interaction, which is helpful for improving the user’s immersion in the production process of virtual reality content for the mobile platform, and analyzes efficiency through an experiment using a questionnaire. First, three-dimensional interactive content is produced for use in the proposed interaction experiment while presenting an experiential environment that gives users a high sense of immersion in the mobile virtual reality environment. This is designed to induce the tension and concentration of users in line with the immersive virtual reality environment. Additionally, a hand interaction method based on gaze—which is mainly used for the entry of mobile virtual reality content—is proposed as a design method for immersive mobile virtual reality environment. The user satisfaction level of the immersive environment provided by the proposed gaze-based hand interaction is analyzed through experiments in comparison with the general method that uses gaze only. Furthermore, detailed analysis is conducted by dividing the effects of the proposed interaction method on user’s psychology into positive factors such as immersion and interest and negative factors such as virtual reality (VR) sickness and dizziness. In this process, a new direction is proposed for improving the immersion of users in the production of mobile platform virtual reality content.

Objective To compare the cervical kinematics and sensorimotor control (i.e., all the afferent, efferent, central integration, and processing components involved in maintaining joint stability) of people with chronic non-specific neck pain (CNSNP) to healthy controls, as assessed in an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. Methods A comprehensive electronic search was conducted in four databases to identify articles published from inception up until June 2022. The search terms were related to ‘neck pain’ and ‘virtual reality’. Inclusion criteria were observational studies, written in English or French, including a majority of people with CNSNP (≥ 60%), and comparing the cervical kinematics or sensorimotor control between people with CNSNP and healthy controls in an immersive VR environment. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Cross-Sectional Studies. The overall certainty of evidence was assessed using the GRADE approach. Results Seven studies were included in the review. A narrative summary of results is provided for each study in relation to the outcomes assessed. Methodological quality was moderate to good. Cervical kinematics seemed to be altered in people with CNSNP compared with healthy controls, except for range of motion and response time. Sensorimotor control assessment showed inconsistent results. The certainty of evidence was very low for both kinematics and sensorimotor control. Conclusion This systematic review provides very low certainty of evidence in favor of different kinematic neck patterns between healthy individuals and people with CNSNP when assessed in an immersive VR environment. No conclusion can be drawn concerning sensorimotor control.

Experiential learning is one of the most widely applied learning theories for virtual reality enabled learning, because virtual reality environment, especially immersive virtual reality environment, allows learners to actively experiment and reflectively observe in a safe and authentic environment. Our previous studies have shown that experiential learning could also be applied within a virtual reality learning environment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in various learning domains. However, there is a lack of in-depth discussion on how to systematically design, engineer and evaluate virtual reality enabled experiential learning activities for children with ASD and other complications (e.g., anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), etc.). In this paper, we share our experience on applying experiential learning theory on the design of social competence learning in the immersive virtual reality environment for the children ASD, in order to address two fundamental questions. First, how different immersive virtual reality environments, such as the CAVE and head-mounted displays, affect the design of the virtual reality learning scenarios. Second, how the virtual reality learning contents can be designed to facilitate experiential learning in an immersive virtual reality environment for the ASD population. Our small-scale study shows that children with ASD often need facilitation during experiential learning in the immersive virtual reality environment and our design of providing in-VR facilitation can meet their learning needs.

Immersive virtual reality computer programs provide new experimental and treatment interventions that hold great promise for nursing. Immersive virtual reality uses sensory cues to represent real-world environments in a way that makes participants feel as if they are in a physical space different from the one in which they currently exist. As the acceptance of immersive virtual reality as a clinical and experimental tool has grown, so has the need to ensure that the context depicted in the environment mirrors both the sensory and the task requirements of the real-world situation. Here, we describe the use of nurse expert key informant group interviews to generate requirements that must be fulfilled in immersive virtual reality environments designed to evoke and engage participants in self-management tasks. An expert panel of four home care nurses participated in three sessions designed to elicit details of common home care challenges, frequency of variation, and typical participants. More than 20 potential scenarios were identified. The design team later used this information to create design requirements for two key scenarios and subsequently develop immersive virtual reality environments for use in research studies, mapping sensory and functional expectations to immersive virtual reality implementations. Challenges in mapping from key informant group findings to requirements are addressed.

Do curious students learn more science in an immersive virtual reality environment? Exploring the impact of advance organizers and epistemic curiosity

ABSTRACTMaterials science is an interdisciplinary field that examines the structure-property relationships in matter for its applications to many areas of science and engineering. Providing a means for intuitive development of understanding of these relationships by young learners and university undergraduates alike is critical. The effectiveness of an immersive low-cost 3D virtual reality (VR) environment was evaluated during a pilot study sponsored by the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) program. The 3D VR environment involves the use of a specialized display, sensors, computers, and immersive visual technology equipment. In collaboration with Cognitive Science investigators, our research focused on understanding the impact of the 3D VR environment on the visual ability to perceive structures in three dimensions and on quantifying the learning of COINS participants. The premise was to measure the learning of undergraduate participants in activities designed to evaluate the quality of the learning environment. Our investigation consisted of three stages in which participants learned about carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via traditional methods, physical models and virtual models. Traditional methods (2D projection graphs) were not appealing to participants and did not facilitate depth perception. Physical (ball-and-stick) models motivated participants by allowing interactivity but bond distance/angle measurements were tedious. Virtual models (3D models) offered complete manipulation, real-time measurements and the capability of mimicking realistic atomic forces (attractive/repulsive), giving the user a better insight into the structure of CNTs compared to previous methods. While immersive environments offer virtual models with some of the same benefits of physical models, it is the extended features (e.g. accurate distance representation, computer simulations capability and analysis tools for further investigations) that suggest such environments as effective learning tools for materials science education. Preliminary data analysis suggests that highly accurate perception of a molecular structure is facilitated by the use of immersive environments in which the operator may manipulate and measure important intrinsic information about the structure. Moreover, computer simulations of materials are of great scientific interest for technological progress. We are presently working on the development of the immersive 3D VR environment to perform atomistic simulations to enable scientists to perform accelerated calculations to solve problems with performance enhancements over conventional methods. Another important value in the immersive 3D VR environment lies in its expanded use for multi-disciplinary research, influencing structure-dependent applications, science learning, and design of nanodevices in fields such as materials science, chemistry, engineering, cognitive science, nanotechnology, and computer science among others.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) impacts on the surprise aspects of designing.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical case is a new hospital in the UK wherein a CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) type of an IVR environment was used performing six design review sessions during the bid preparation stage. Drawing from a former video-based study, the authors conducted follow-up discussions with the participants to access their perspectives on design surprises emerging from their engagement with the IVR. The study developed a reflective methodology, interviewing participants about their experiences of doing design in the immersive environment. Retrospective discussions were conducted in a data review format, through playing back video clips of the IVR design sessions and asking the participants to reflect on their IVR design experience and on design surprises emerging from their engagement with the IVR.FindingsThe findings indicate that IVRs, such as the CAVE, are not only enhancing existing understandings of design but also challenging the participants' understanding of the design as they experience the immersive version of it, provoking ruptures in current procedures and driving unanticipated changes to the design.Originality/valueThis qualitative study of surprise in design work using IVRs (for a real-life design project) brings new insights into emerging practices of designing using immersive technology, such as the CAVE.

Researchers and practitioners frequently employ questionnaires to evaluate the User Experience (UX) mainly due to their cost-effectiveness, systematic nature, and ease of application. However, the use of questionnaires may be constrained by the availability of standardized instruments and the psychometric quality of the questionnaires. This paper presents the index of User Experience in immersive Virtual Reality (iUXVR), a questionnaire designed to measure key aspects of User Experience in immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments based on the Components of User Experience framework. The questionnaire comprises seven-point Likert-like statements divided into five components: usability, sense of presence, aesthetics, VR sickness, and emotions. The development of the iUXVR was based on a content analysis of existing questionnaires, followed by an expert review and a pilot study. The iUXVR was applied in an experiment that collected 126 thoroughly answered questionnaires. The PLS-SEM analysis identified items with low factor loadings and low explained variance that have been removed from the questionnaire. The questionnaire presented good indicator loadings and adequate reliability estimates even though the items from aesthetics and emotions components are substantially correlated. The structural model suggests that VR sickness does not play an important role in the overall UX, even though it affects users’ emotions. On the other hand, the aesthetic experience, which is often neglected in UX models for VR environments, is essential in this context due to its strong relationship with emotions and UX. Furthermore, the sense of presence has less influence on the UX than usability, aesthetics, and emotions. Finally, the validity-supporting evidence is sufficient for exploratory research, substantiating consistent key aspects of the User Experience in immersive VR.

A method to measure what and how deep the user can perceive in immersive virtual reality environments is proposed. A preliminary user study was carried out to verify that user gaze behaviors have some specific differences in immersive virtual reality environments compared with that in traditional non-immersive virtual reality environments base on 2D monitors and interactive hardware. Analyzed from the user study result, the user gaze behavior in immersive virtual reality environments is more likely to move their head to let interested object locates in the center of the view, while in non-immersive virtual reality environments the user tends to move their own eyes and only move the avatar's head when necessary. Base on this finding, a quantitative equation is proposed to measure the user's attention in immersive virtual reality environments. It can be used into a quality evaluate system to help designers find out design issues in the scene that reduce the effectiveness of the narrative.