Use of Neurophysiological Metrics within a Real and Virtual Perceptual Skills Task to Determine Optimal Simulation Fidelity Requirements

Abstract

The military is increasingly looking to virtual environment (VE) developers and cognitive scientists to provide virtual training platforms to support optimal training effectiveness within significant time and cost constraints. However, current methods for determining the most effective levels of fidelity in these environments are limited. Neurophysiological metrics may provide a means for objectively assessing the impact of fidelity variations on training. The current experiment compared neurophysiological and performance data for a real-world perceptual discrimination task as well as a similarlystructured VE training task under systematically varied fidelity conditions. Visual discrimination and classification was required between two militarilyrelevant (M-16 and AK-47 rifle), and one neutral (umbrella) stimuli, viewed through a real and virtual Night Vision Device. Significant differences were found for task condition (real world versus virtual, as well as visual stimulus parameters within each condition), within both the performance and physiological data.