Effects of Viewpoint Offsets of Night Vision Goggles on Human Performance in a Simulated Grenade-Throwing Task

摘要

This study was conducted to determine whether night vision goggles (NVGs) with hyperstereo viewpoint offsets produced a significant difference in the magnitude and direction of throwing errors compared to NVGs without hyperstereo viewpoint offsets. A second reason for the study was to disambiguate the visual motor performance effects of an NVG design with mixed vertical and horizontal viewpoint offsets. Each of 32 National Guardsmen threw simulated grenades onto a trap-door target, a task that was modeled after a 'door- kicking' military operation. Each time the participant threw a grenade, the radial direction and distance of the grenade's landing position were recorded. The results of the study indicated that wearing NVGs with hyperstereo viewpoint offsets resulted in a statistically significant increase in the magnitude and direction of errors in throwing compared to non-hyperstereo viewpoint offsets. Results also indicated that the horizontal component of a mixed horizontal and vertical offset NVG design accounts for most of the errors in performance. The results suggest that soldiers will need to practice throwing grenades while wearing NVGs with viewpoint offsets in order to approach the same accuracy level as with non-offset NVGs.