Proprioceptive accuracy in Immersive Virtual Reality: A developmental perspective

Abstract

Proprioceptive development relies on a variety of sensory inputs, among which vision is hugely dominant. Focusing on the developmental trajectory underpinning the integration of vision and proprioception, the present research explores how this integration is involved in interactions with Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) by examining how proprioceptive accuracy is affected by Age, Perception, and Environment. Individuals from 4 to 43 years old completed a self-turning task which asked them to manually return to a previous location with different sensory modalities available in both IVR and reality. Results were interpreted from an exploratory perspective using Bayesian model comparison analysis, which allows the phenomena to be described using probabilistic statements rather than simplified reject/notreject decisions. The most plausible model showed that 4-8-year-old children can generally be expected to make more proprioceptive errors than older children and adults. Across age groups, proprioceptive accuracy is higher when vision is available, and is disrupted in the visual environment provided by the IVR headset. We can conclude that proprioceptive accuracy mostly develops during the first eight years of life and that it relies largely on vision. Moreover, our findings indicate that this proprioceptive accuracy can be disrupted by the use of an IVR headset.

Sensorimotor Research Utilising Immersive Virtual Reality: A Pilot Study with Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

“…Setup. Materials and methods have been described in detail in our previous study with neurotypical children and adults [19]. The employed materials included a soundproof, 2x3 metre testing room with black interior walls where small white clouds were randomly fixed (see Figure 1), illumination, audio communication, and videotaping systems, and the HMD Oculus Gear VR 2016 (101 • FOV, 345 g weight, 60 Hz refresh rate) interfaced with a Samsung Galaxy S7 (152 g weight) providing IVR simulations (360 • pictures) of the testing room.…”

“…Despite the broad research and intervention potential offered by HMDs, they have unique features that lead to sensorimotor interactions that do not constitute an exact corollary for real-world experience. Valori and colleagues [19] found that self-motion performance worsened in IVR conditions with vision available relative to the same conditions in reality and indeed, the way that HMDs deliver visual information has essentially unknown effects on movement and its perception [20].…”

“…We hypothesise that HMDs have unique features that are relevant for people with ASD. This technology seems to intrinsically generate a conflict between vision and proprioception and disrupt the reliability of proprioception [19], potentially reducing its hyper-reliance in ASD. Furthermore, HMDs provide visual information that does not perfectly resemble that of the real world, and they might foster the use of the ventral visual pathway (for object qualities) rather than the dorsal pathway (for movement and spatial aspects of stimuli) [25].…”

Proprioception and Clinical Correlation

“…There are specific unique roles associated with each sensory source (i.e., somatosensory, visual, vestibular) that cannot be compensated fully with each other [14,15]. The environment is experienced through sensory systems: exteroception (e.g., sight, Proprioception and Clinical Correlation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95866 hearing, touch), interoception (e.g., arousal, pain, visceral sensations, muscular sensations), and proprioception (e.g., sense of position, motion, and force), which all required for successful motor control [16,17]. During a task-oriented activity, motor adaptation, defined as a process of modifying the movement based on error feedback [18], skills are needed to cope with the changes occurring in the external and internal environment [2].…”

An immersive first-person navigation task for abstract knowledge acquisition

“…Researchers on the other hand, remain in full control and can track participants’ behaviour in great detail with advanced sensors. Consequently, VR has increasingly been used to study spatial navigation 1 , social interaction 2 and multisensory integration 3 . It has also been used in therapeutic settings such as stroke rehabilitation 4 , pain therapy 5 or phobia treatment 6 .…”