scholarly journals Assessment of Wheelchair Propulsion Performance in an Immersive Virtual Reality Simulator

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8016
Author(s):  
Yu-Sheng Yang ◽  
Alicia M. Koontz ◽  
Yu-Hsuan Hsiao ◽  
Cheng-Tang Pan ◽  
Jyh-Jong Chang
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spinal Cord Injuries ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Wheelchair Propulsion ◽  
Subjective Data ◽  
Wheelchair Users ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Propulsion Performance

Maneuvering a wheelchair is an important necessity for the everyday life and social activities of people with a range of physical disabilities. However, in real life, wheelchair users face several common challenges: articulate steering, spatial relationships, and negotiating obstacles. Therefore, our research group has developed a head-mounted display (HMD)-based intuitive virtual reality (VR) stimulator for wheelchair propulsion. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of this VR stimulator for wheelchair propulsion performance. Twenty manual wheelchair users (16 men and 4 women) with spinal cord injuries ranging from T8 to L2 participated in this study. The differences in wheelchair propulsion kinematics between immersive and non-immersive VR environments were assessed using a 3D motion analysis system. Subjective data of the HMD-based intuitive VR stimulator were collected with a Presence Questionnaire and individual semi-structured interview at the end of the trial. Results indicated that propulsion performance was very similar in terms of start angle (p = 0.34), end angle (p = 0.46), stroke angle (p = 0.76), and shoulder movement (p = 0.66) between immersive and non-immersive VR environments. In the VR episode featuring an uphill journey, an increase in propulsion speed (p < 0.01) and cadence (p < 0.01) were found, as well as a greater trunk forward inclination (p = 0.01). Qualitative interviews showed that this VR simulator made an attractive, novel impression and therefore demonstrated the potential as a tool for stimulating training motivation. This HMD-based intuitive VR stimulator can be an effective resource to enhance wheelchair maneuverability experiences.

scholarly journals The Development of Virtual Reality as a Tool to Investigate Eating Behavior

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1308-1308
Author(s):  
James Hollis ◽  
James Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Food Intake ◽  
Sensory Evaluation ◽  
Eating Behavior ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Infrared Camera ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
White Background ◽  
Test Food ◽  
Head Mounted Display

Abstract Objectives The objective of this study was to a) determine the feasibility of eating in virtual reality (VR) environment while wearing a head mounted display (HMD) and b) determine the effect of eating in a virtual restaurant on food intake, sensory evaluation of the test food and masticatory parameters. Methods Fifteen adults were asked to report to the laboratory on two occasions, separated by at least one week, at their usual lunchtime. On reporting to the laboratory, surface electrodes were attached to the left and right masseter muscles to measure masticatory activity and a wristband placed on the non-dominant wrist to collect physiological data. The participant sat quietly for 5 minutes before a VR (HMD) was placed on their head. The HMD displayed either a virtual restaurant (pizzeria) or a blank scene (consisting of a white background and a table). The participant's hand movements were captured using an infrared camera mounted on the HMD so when the participant moved their hands this was represented by computer generated model hands in the VR scene. The test foods (pizza bites) were represented in VR using a 3D model of pizza bites. The test foods were arranged so that when the participant touched the test food model in the VR scene they touched the test food in real life allowing them to locate and pick up the test food. The participant was instructed to eat the test food until they felt comfortably full.  When the participant finished eating the equipment was removed and they completed questionnaires regarding their feelings of presence and experiences in the VR environment and their ratings of the test food attributes. Results Participants were able to successfully locate and eat the pizza rolls while in the VR environment. The participants feeling of presence was higher in the restaurant scene compared to the blank scene (P &lt; 0.05). Heart rate and skin temperature were higher in the restaurant scene (P &lt; 0.05). Differences in masticatory parameters were found with participants using fewer masticatory cycles before swallowing in the restaurant scene (P &lt; 0.05). There were no differences between scenes regarding the sensory evaluation of the test foods. There was no difference in food intake between the treatments. Conclusions Eating in VR is feasible and may provide a new method to understand eating behavior in different contexts. Funding Sources None.

scholarly journals Virtual reality alters cortical oscillations related to visuo-tactile integration during rubber hand illusion

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriaki Kanayama ◽  
Masayuki Hara ◽  
Kenta Kimura
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Rubber Hand Illusion ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Theta Band ◽  
Rubber Hand ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Eeg Data

AbstractVirtual reality (VR) enables the fast, free, and highly controllable setting of experimental body images. Illusions pertaining to a body, such as the rubber hand illusion (RHI), can be easily conducted in VR settings, and some phenomena, such as full-body illusions, are only realized in virtual environments. However, the multisensory-integration process in VR is not yet fully understood. Thus, it remains to be clarified if specific phenomena that occur under VR settings manifest in real life as well. One useful investigative approach is measuring brain activities during a psychological experiment. Electroencephalography (EEG) oscillatory activities provide insight into the human multisensory integration process. Nevertheless, EEG data can be vulnerable to VR noise, which causes measurement and analytical difficulties for EEG data recorded in VR environments. Here, we achieve an experimental RHI setting using a head-mounted display that provides a VR visual space and VR dummy hand along with EEG measurements. We compared EEG data collected in both real and VR environments and observed the gamma and theta band oscillatory activities. Ultimately, we observed statistically significant differences between congruent (RHI) and incongruent (not RHI) conditions in the real environment, which is consistent with previous studies. Differences in the VR condition were observed only on the late theta band oscillation, suggesting that the VR setting itself altered the perceptual and sensory integration mechanisms. Thus, we must model this difference between real and VR settings whenever we use VR to investigate our bodily self-perception.

scholarly journals A virtual reality based psychosis simulation for education of medical students: An ongoing project

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Majid Zare Bidaki ◽  
Bentolhoda Mousavi ◽  
Alireza Ehteshampour
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Current Method ◽  
Psychotic Experience ◽  
External Reality ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Normal Limits ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Simulated Environment

Psychosis, which is defined as the loss of contact with external reality, is a subjective and complex experience that has two major presentations: delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are defined in a spectrum from overvalued ideas that can be considered as the upper extreme of normal limits, to the presence of crystallised, systematic ideas, without any external proof that clearly interferes with the experiencer’s life. The same is true for hallucinations, as it can be experienced by any person in some point of their life or it can be multimodal which dominates the thinking process and leads to verbal or behavioural response. Despite the prevalence of both experiences, and even though medical students participate in theory-based education as well as apprenticeship in psychiatric wards, they find the experience non-tangible and difficult to digest. Improvement in technology has led to development of computer programmes, such as virtual reality (VR), by which the sense of immersion is induced in a simulated environment through combining sensory inputs with computer-generated graphics and effects and mostly is used through a head-mounted display. Constructivist movements have placed emphasis on active learning and visual-spatial abilities in education and VR has paved the way for its practical application. In this research project, along with producing an authentic virtual psychotic experience according to patients’ real-life experiences, we aim to assess its efficacy in improving knowledge, attitude and empathy towards people with psychotic experience, in comparison with the current method of education.   Keywords: Virtual reality, psychotic experience, simulation, medical education, e-learning.

scholarly journals Using Virtual Reality to Stimulate Healthy and Environmentally Friendly Food Consumption among Children: An Interview Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1088
Author(s):  
Eline Suzanne Smit ◽  
Marijn Hendrika Catharina Meijers ◽  
Laura Nynke van der Laan
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Food Consumption ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Interview Study ◽  
Only Children ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Children’S Expectations ◽  
The Impact

Since habits formed during childhood are predictive of adult behaviour, children form an important target group when it comes to improving healthy and environmentally friendly food consumption. To explore the potential of immersive virtual reality (VR) in this respect, we conducted a semi-structured interview study (N = 22) among children aged 6–13 years. This study consisted of two parts: (1) a VR experience and (2) a semi-structured interview to investigate (1) to what extent children are able to recall and understand information about the impact of food products on their health and the environment when provided to them as pop-ups in a VR supermarket; (2) what rational and emotional processes are triggered by this information; and (3) what children’s expectations about the real-life application and impact of the pop-ups are, and why. Interview data were analysed using the framework method. Results showed that although all participants were able to recall the information, only children from an average age of ten years old also understood the information. When participants understood the information, they were often aware of and felt sorry for their negative behavioural impact. Most participants expected their behaviour to positively change when imagining real-life application of the pop-ups.

scholarly journals Disruption by virtual reality of the cortical oscillations related to visuotactile integration during an embodiment process

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriaki Kanayama ◽  
Masayuki Hara ◽  
Kenta Kimura
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Cortical Oscillations ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Visuotactile Integration

AbstractVirtual reality (VR) enables fast, free, and highly controllable experimental body image setting. Illusions pertaining to a body, like the rubber hand illusion (RHI), can be easily conducted in VR settings, and some phenomena, such as full-body illusions, are only realized in virtual environments. However, the multisensory integration process in VR is not yet fully understood, and we must clarify the limitations and whether specific phenomena can also occur in real life or only in VR settings. One useful investigative approach is measuring brain activities during a psychological experiment. Electroencephalography (EEG) oscillatory activities provide insight into the human multisensory integration process. Unfortunately, the data can be vulnerable to VR noise, which causes measurement and analytical difficulties for EEG data recorded in VR environments. Here, we took care to provide an experimental RHI setting using a head-mounted display, which provided a VR visual space and VR dummy hand along with EEG measurements. We compared EEG data taken in both real and VR environments and observed the gamma and theta band oscillatory activities. Ultimately, we saw statistically significant differences between congruent (RHI) and incongruent (not RHI) conditions in the real environment, which agrees with previous studies. No difference in the VR condition could be observed, suggesting that the VR setting itself altered the perceptual and sensory integration mechanisms. Thus, we must model this difference between real and VR settings whenever we use VR to investigate our bodily self-perception.

Task Performance and Situation Awareness with a Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Display

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 2105-2109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob M. Read ◽  
Jason J. Saleem
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Real World ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Flat Screen ◽  
Vr Training ◽  
World Environment

Training can be expensive, dangerous, or impractical for certain situations. Virtual reality (VR) technology could be utilized to reduce the negative aspects of real-life training and the consequences incurred from inadequate training. However, for VR to be an effective training method, it must reflect reality to a certain extent. We measured task performance and situation awareness for parking situations with 15 participants in a real-world environment, and in a virtual environment using a VR headset and a flat screen computer monitor separately. Results revealed no significant difference in driver situation awareness between the reality, VR, and flat screen conditions. Performance in terms of task time was significantly less with the reality condition compared to the others. Therefore, the VR device was not equivalent to the real-world environment for training purposes. We discuss ways in which improvements to the VR training condition may increase the effectiveness of VR-based training.

scholarly journals Using Virtual Reality as a Tool in the Rehabilitation of Movement Abnormalities in Schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Pavlidou ◽  
Sebastian Walther
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Motor Rehabilitation ◽  
Pharmacological Agents ◽  
Motor Functioning ◽  
Head Mounted Display

Movement abnormalities are prevalent across all stages of schizophrenia contributing to poor social functioning and reduced quality of life. To date, treatments are scarce, often involving pharmacological agents, but none have been shown to improve movement abnormalities effectively. Virtual reality (VR) is a tool used to simulate virtual environments where behavioral performance can be quantified safely across different tasks while exerting control over stimulus delivery, feedback and measurement in real time. Sensory information is transmitted via a head mounted display allowing users to directly interact with virtual objects and bodies using gestures and body movements in the real world to perform different actions, permitting a sense of immersion in the simulated virtual environment. Although, VR has been widely used for successful motor rehabilitation in a variety of different neurological domains, none have been exploited for motor rehabilitation in schizophrenia. The objectives of this article are to review movement abnormalities specific to schizophrenia, and how VR can be utilized to restore and improve motor functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Constructing VR-mediated motor-cognitive interventions that can help in retaining and transferring the learned outcomes to real life are also discussed.

scholarly journals Physically Based Soap Bubble Synthesis for VR

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3090
Author(s):  
Sangwook Yoo ◽  
Cheongho Lee ◽  
Seongah Chin
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Soap Bubble ◽  
Temporal Constraints ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Soap Bubbles ◽  
Physical Motion ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Interesting Topic ◽  
Physically Based

To experience a real soap bubble show, materials and tools are required, as are skilled performers who produce the show. However, in a virtual space where spatial and temporal constraints do not exist, bubble art can be performed without real materials and tools to give a sense of immersion. For this, the realistic expression of soap bubbles is an interesting topic for virtual reality (VR). However, the current performance of VR soap bubbles is not satisfying the high expectations of users. Therefore, in this study, we propose a physically based approach for reproducing the shape of the bubble by calculating the measured parameters required for bubble modeling and the physical motion of bubbles. In addition, we applied the change in the flow of the surface of the soap bubble measured in practice to the VR rendering. To improve users’ VR experience, we propose that they should experience a bubble show in a VR HMD (Head Mounted Display) environment.

scholarly journals Gamification and Hazard Communication in Virtual Reality: A Qualitative Study

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4663
Author(s):  
Janaina Cavalcanti ◽  
Victor Valls ◽  
Manuel Contero ◽  
David Fonseca
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Training Environment ◽  
Hazard Communication ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Compliance Behavior ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Recorded Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Levels

An effective warning attracts attention, elicits knowledge, and enables compliance behavior. Game mechanics, which are directly linked to human desires, stand out as training, evaluation, and improvement tools. Immersive virtual reality (VR) facilitates training without risk to participants, evaluates the impact of an incorrect action/decision, and creates a smart training environment. The present study analyzes the user experience in a gamified virtual environment of risks using the HTC Vive head-mounted display. The game was developed in the Unreal game engine and consisted of a walk-through maze composed of evident dangers and different signaling variables while user action data were recorded. To demonstrate which aspects provide better interaction, experience, perception and memory, three different warning configurations (dynamic, static and smart) and two different levels of danger (low and high) were presented. To properly assess the impact of the experience, we conducted a survey about personality and knowledge before and after using the game. We proceeded with the qualitative approach by using questions in a bipolar laddering assessment that was compared with the recorded data during the game. The findings indicate that when users are engaged in VR, they tend to test the consequences of their actions rather than maintaining safety. The results also reveal that textual signal variables are not accessed when users are faced with the stress factor of time. Progress is needed in implementing new technologies for warnings and advance notifications to improve the evaluation of human behavior in virtual environments of high-risk surroundings.

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