Learning and transfer of complex motor skills in virtual reality: a perspective review

Abstract

The development of more effective rehabilitative interventions requires a better understanding of how humans learn and transfer motor skills in real-world contexts. Presently, clinicians design interventions to promote skill learning by relying on evidence from experimental paradigms involving simple tasks, such as reaching for a target. While these tasks facilitate stringent hypothesis testing in laboratory settings, the results may not shed light on performance of more complex real-world skills. In this perspective, we argue that virtual environments (VEs) are flexible, novel platforms to evaluate learning and transfer of complex skills without sacrificing experimental control. Specifically, VEs use models of real-life tasks that afford controlled experimental manipulations to measure and guide behavior with a precision that exceeds the capabilities of physical environments. This paper reviews recent insights from VE paradigms on motor learning into two pressing challenges in rehabilitation research: 1) Which training strategies in VEs promote complex skill learning? and 2) How can transfer of learning from virtual to real environments be enhanced? Defining complex skills by having nested redundancies, we outline findings on the role of movement variability in complex skill acquisition and discuss how VEs can provide novel forms of guidance to enhance learning. We review the evidence for skill transfer from virtual to real environments in typically developing and neurologically-impaired populations with a view to understanding how differences in sensory-motor information may influence learning strategies. We provide actionable suggestions for practicing clinicians and outline broad areas where more research is required. Finally, we conclude that VEs present distinctive experimental platforms to understand complex skill learning that should enable transfer from therapeutic practice to the real world.

Transfer of motor skill between virtual reality viewed using a head-mounted display and conventional screen environments

“…p < 0.05 * addition to personal factors, task-related factors likely contribute to differences in motor skill acquisition and transfer from HMD-VR to conventional environments, and vice versa. Previous findings have suggested that fidelity and dimensionality influences the transfer of motor skills from HMD-VR environments [29]. In the current study, a possible explanation for the decrease in performance on a computer screen could be that the visual representation of the HMD-VR environment did not reflect what individuals expected and therefore, motor skill performance was not maintained with transfer.…”

“…One advantage of HMD-VR over conventional screen environments is the ability to realistically simulate the real world which allows for greater task specificity [27]. Task-related factors such as fidelity (i.e., imitation of the real environment) and dimensionality (i.e., matching dimensions between virtual and real environments) between HMD-VR and the real world have been shown to influence lower extremity motor performance [28] and have been suggested to have an influence on transfer in both lower and upper extremity motor transfer [29,30]. Individual differences in personal factors such as gender, age, video game experience, prior technical computer literacy, and computer efficacy seemed to influence transfer from HMD-VR to the real world in studies examining the transfer of spatial knowledge acquired in an HMD-VR environment [26,31].…”

“…In the current study, we examined: (1) whether transfer of upper extremity motor skills occurs between HMD-VR and conventional screen environments, and 2what personal factors predict transfer between environments. Given the variability of motor skill learning and transfer in previous studies [22][23][24][25][26]29], we hypothesized that individual motor performance would vary after transfer to a novel environment, and that this variability could be predicted by individual differences in variables such as presence in the training environment, prior experience with HMD-VR, or non-VR video games.…”

Embodied virtual reality for the study of real-world motor learning

“…Accordingly, there is a real need to enhance transfer to make VR useful for rehabilitation and assistive technology applications [51, for review see 52]. Current thinking suggests that transfer should be enhanced the closer VR replicates the real-world [33,52]. The physical interactions in our EVR are generating accurate force, touch and proprioceptive perceptions which are lacking in conventional VR setups.…”

“…This suggests that our EVR framework could thus enhance learning and transfer between VR and the real-world. A recent review on learning and transfer in VR [52] also highlights the fidelity and dimensionality of the virtual environment as key components that determine learning and transfer, which are also addressed in our setup. In that sense, EVR mockup of real-life tasks, like the one presented here, should be the way forward as it addresses all the key components that determine learning and transfer in real-world tasks.…”