Cognitive Performance Assessment in Mixed and Virtual Environment Systems.

摘要

The U.S. Army is currently interested in developing state-of-the-art training methods that leverage technology based on established and emerging immersive mixed and virtual environment systems employing both head mounted and spatially immersive display technologies. A primary motivation for utilizing mixed and virtual environment systems is that they create cost-effective simulations of relevant military challenges while training a variety of skills and processes. However, in a sometimes single-minded effort to directly advance training technology, the area of performance testing and assessment has often been overlooked. There are a number of compelling reasons to address the assessment component concurrently with efforts to build better training tools. It is nearly a given in modern psychology that, before one can begin to focus on training or enhancement of any behavior, one needs to be able to measure and understand the performance that needs to be trained. This requires assessment tools that have demonstrated reliability and validity for measuring criterion performance both pre and post training implementation. Without good assessment metrics, the measurement of training effectiveness is compromised, and as well, the ability to investigate and understand the components of effective performance that are needed to drive the evolution of a training system is not possible. To address this need, we have initiated development of a comprehensive, standardized, norm-based VR cognitive performance assessment test (VRCPAT) battery.