Development of a Signal Detection-Based Task for Research on Distributed Human-Robot Teaming within Immersive Virtual Reality

Author(s):  
Gabrielle Vasquez ◽  
Rhyse Bendell ◽  
Andrew Talone ◽  
Florian Jentsch

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and validation of a dynamic signal detection-based task experienced within immersive virtual reality (IVR). The task will be used as a primary task for investigating the workload introduced by interface devices used for human-robot team communications. Participants play the role of a Soldier performing a Cordon and Search operation monitoring an environment for threats. The task differs from traditional signal detection tasks in that it is continuous, dynamic, and signal stimuli move through participants’ field of view. Implementation of the task within simulation allows for direct control, measurement, and manipulation of multiple parameters that influence performance metrics, task difficulty, and participant workload. Lessons learned during the design and development of the task are shared to guide other researchers intending to implement a signal detection-based task within IVR.

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 420-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Monti ◽  
Giuseppina Porciello ◽  
Gaetano Tieri ◽  
Salvatore M. Aglioti

Recent theories posit that physiological signals contribute to corporeal awareness, the basic feeling that one has a body (body ownership) that acts according to one’s will (body agency) and occupies a specific position (body location). Combining physiological recordings with immersive virtual reality, we found that an ecological mapping of real respiratory patterns onto a virtual body illusorily changes corporeal awareness. This new way of inducing a respiratory bodily illusion, called “embreathment,” revealed that breathing is almost as important as visual appearance for inducing body ownership and more important than any other cue for body agency. These effects were moderated by individual levels of interoception, as assessed through a standard heartbeat-counting task and a new “pneumoception” task. By showing that respiratory, visual, and spatial signals exert a specific and weighted influence on the fundamental feeling that one is an embodied agent, we pave the way for a comprehensive hierarchical model of corporeal awareness. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our body is the only object we sense from the inside; however, it is unclear how much inner physiology contributes to the global sensation of having a body and controlling it. We combine respiration recordings with immersive virtual reality and find that making a virtual body breathe like the real body gives an illusory sense of ownership and agency over the avatar, elucidating the role of a key physiological process like breathing in corporeal awareness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9341
Author(s):  
Andria Shimi ◽  
Vanessa Tsestou ◽  
Marios Hadjiaros ◽  
Kleanthis Neokleous ◽  
Marios Avraamides

Physical abilities are essential to goalkeepers in soccer but the involved cognitive abilities for these players have only recently become the focus of extensive research. In this study, we investigated the role of different aspects of attention in a basic goalkeeping task in soccer. One hundred participants assumed the role of a goalkeeper in immersive virtual reality (VR) and carried out a task that entailed blocking balls shot towards their goal. In addition, they carried out two computerized tasks each assessing different attentional abilities: the Attention Network Test provided scores for three well-established networks of attention, namely the alerting, the orienting, and the executive control. The Whack-a-Mole task evaluated inhibitory control, by measuring performance in a classic Go/No-Go task and tapping on response inhibition. A regression analysis revealed that all three attention network scores contributed to performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Furthermore, performance in the Whack-a-Mole task correlated significantly with performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Overall, findings confirm that cognitive skills relating to attention play a critical role in the efficient execution of soccer-specific tasks. These findings have important implications for the training of cognitive skills in sports.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Harris ◽  
Mark Wilson ◽  
Samuel James Vine

Directing ocular fixations towards a target assists the planning and control of visually-guided actions. In far aiming tasks, the quiet eye, an instance of pre-movement gaze anchoring, has been extensively studied as a key performance variable. However, theories of quiet eye are yet to establish the exact functional role of the location and duration of the fixation. The present work used immersive virtual reality to manipulate key parameters of the quiet eye – location (experiment 1) and duration (experiment 2) – to test competing theoretical predictions about their importance. Across two pre-registered experiments, novice participants (n=127) completed a series of golf putts while their eye movements, putting accuracy, and putting kinematics were recorded. In experiment 1, participants’ pre-movement fixation was cued to locations on the ball, near the ball, and far from the ball. In experiment 2, long and short quiet eye durations were induced using auditory tones as cues to movement phases. Linear mixed effects models indicated that manipulations of location and duration had little effect on performance or movement kinematics. The findings suggest that, for novices, the spatial and temporal parameters of the final fixation may not be critical for movement pre-programming and may instead reflect attentional control or movement inhibition functions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andria Shimi ◽  
Vanessa Tsestou ◽  
Marios Hatziaros ◽  
Kleanthis Neokleous ◽  
Marios N Avraamides

Soccer is one of the most popular sports and goalkeepers are central to a team’s winning. Physical abilities are essential to goalkeepers but the involved cognitive abilities for these players are understudied and not well understood. In this study, we investigated the role of different aspects of attention in a goalkeeping task in soccer. Participants assumed the role of a goalkeeper in immersive Virtual Reality and carried out a task that entailed blocking balls shot towards their goal. In addition, they carried out two computerized tasks each assessing different attentional abilities: the Attention Network Test provided scores for three well-established networks of attention, namely the alerting, the orienting, and the executive control. The Whack-a-Mole task evaluated inhibitory control, by measuring performance in a classic Go/No-Go task and tapping on response inhibition. Results revealed that all three attention network scores predicted performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Furthermore, performance in the Whack-a-Mole task correlated significantly with performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Overall, findings confirm that cognitive skills relating to attention play a critical role in the efficient execution of soccer-specific tasks. These findings have important implications for the training of cognitive skills in sports.


Author(s):  
Amir H Sadeghi ◽  
Joris F W Ooms ◽  
Nicolas M Van Mieghem ◽  
Edris A F Mahtab ◽  
Ad J J C Bogers

Abstract Exponential technologies such as virtual reality (VR), computational modeling, and additive manufacturing have emerged in the field of cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery. An increasing number of publications that evaluate the clinical role of these technologies are becoming available. Moreover, there is an increase in the number of hospitals and departments that have implemented digital and exponential solutions in clinical workflow. In our center, we have adopted various exponential technologies in order to improve clinical pre-procedural workflow, patient care, and training and education. In order to provide our view and approach on the implementation of these technologies, in this article, we provide an overview of the currently applied modalities including immersive virtual reality, 3D computational modeling, VR-based simulations, and additive manufacturing (3D printing). Moreover, we present the potential of these applications in cardiovascular and cardiothoracic medicine, and additionally, we will provide key facilitators, challenges, and recommendations to adopting these technologies in clinical practice.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 467
Author(s):  
Ling-Long Tsai

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically restricted domestic and foreign travel; thus, virtual tourism has become a new option for traveling. As regards virtual tourism, the present study seeks to investigate the effect of tourist involvement on the three components of holistic image, namely cognitive, affective, and conative images; the influence of cognitive, affective, and conative images on the construction of the holistic image; and the moderating effect of sense of presence on the relationships between cognitive, affective, and conative images on the holistic image. Prospective tourists were chosen as research subjects in the present study on non-immersive virtual reality (VR) tourism, or virtual tourism. Participants first watched the 360° VR tour video of AirPano. Afterward, they filled out an online questionnaire, of which 386 valid samples were collected for analyses. Results show that tourist involvement considerably affects cognitive, affective, and conative images, which significantly influence the holistic image. Furthermore, a sense of presence was found to positively moderate the relationships between (1) cognitive and holistic, (2) affective and holistic, and (3) conative and holistic images. These results may allow tourism marketing organizations to better understand how to strengthen the holistic image in the context of virtual tourism.


2020 ◽  
pp. 204275302098010
Author(s):  
Alejandro Egea-Vivancos ◽  
Laura Arias-Ferrer

The extension of technology in current society has encouraged teachers to introduce products based on VR and IVR in their classrooms, especially video games. In this paper the specific role of video games in cultural heritage and history teaching is analyzed. Moreover, the results of recent research on the application of video games in Secondary Education is discussed. The results advocate taking into account principles such as Civic Education, Historical Relevance, Engagement, Applicability and Multimodality (what has been called the CREAM Model) in the design of a video game. These principles are especially important if the video game aims to introduce archaeological and/or historical contents into the classroom. This model has been implemented in the design of the IVR video game Carthago Nova, which is discussed as an exemplar of how the proposed principles can be engaged. The educational sequence, in which the video game is contextualized, reinforces its educational aims.


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