Redirected Touching: Training and Adaptation in Warped Virtual Spaces.

Redirected Touching is a technique in which virtual space is warped to map many virtual objects onto one real object that serves as a passive haptic prop. Recent work suggests that this mapping can often be predictably unnoticeable and have little effect on task performance. We investigated training and adaptation on a rapid aiming task in a real environment, an unwarped virtual environment, and a warped virtual environment. Participants who experienced a warped virtual space reported an initial strange sensation, but adapted to the warped space after short repeated exposure. Our data indicate that all the virtual training was less effective than real-world training, but after adaptation, participants trained as well in a warped virtual space as in an unwarped one.

Do the physical characteristics of a virtual reality device contraindicate its use for balance assessment?

CONTEXT: Virtual reality environments may allow researchers to investigate functional balance performance without risks associated with testing in the real world. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of the mass of a head-mounted display (HMD) on balance performance. DESIGN: Counterbalanced pretest-posttest. SETTING: Virtual reality laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: 20 healthy college students. INTERVENTION(S): Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) with a tracker-only headband and again with tracker plus HMD was performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: BESS error scores, elliptical sway area, and center of pressure travel distance were recorded. RESULTS: No effect of the HMD mass on balance performance was observed. A significant stance by surface interaction was present but was negated when the HMD conditions were included in the model. CONCLUSIONS: The mass of a HMD has not been proven to adversely affect balance performance. These data suggest the HMD mass is not a contraindication to the use of immersive virtual environments in future concussion research involving balance.