Effects of Display Type and Spatial Ability on Performance During a Virtual Reality Simulation

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of display type and spatial ability level on performance during three trials of a virtual reality (VR) simulation. Seventy-six Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets were identified as having high or low spatial ability level. Subjects used either a helmet mounted display or a standard computer monitor to perform a VR simulation. The study examined the effects of display type, spatial ability, and number of trials on simulation performance, performance strategy, discomfort level, display characteristics and attitude. Results indicated that subjects with high spatial ability performed significantly better on the simulation than subjects with low spatial ability. Performance results revealed a significant interaction between spatial ability level and trial. Separate analyses for each spatial ability group showed that the performance of high spatial ability subjects improved significantly from trial to trial. The performance of low spatial ability subjects did not significantly improve over time. There were no significant performance differences between subjects that wore the head mounted display versus subjects that did the simulation on a standard computer monitor. Results for performance strategy suggested that high spatial ability subjects used more effective strategies during the simulation than low spatial ability subjects. Exploratory data analysis indicated that performance strategy was a stronger predictor of performance than spatial ability. Discomfort survey results indicated that subjects who used the head mounted display reported significantly higher levels of cold sweating and difficulty focusing than subjects who used the standard computer monitor. Head mounted display subjects also rated display resolution significantly lower than computer monitor subjects. High spatial ability subjects benefited significantly more from practice than low spati.