The Trade-Off of Virtual Reality Training for Dart Throwing: A Facilitation of Perceptual-Motor Learning With a Detriment to Performance

Abstract

Advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology now allow for the creation of highly immersive virtual environments and for systems to be commercially available at an affordable price. Despite increased availability, this access does not ensure that VR is appropriate for training for all motor skills. Before the implementation of VR for training sport-related skills takes place, it must first be established whether VR utilization is appropriate. To this end, it is crucial to better understand the mechanisms that drive learning in these new environments which will allow for optimization of VR to best facilitate transfer of learned skills to the real world. In this study we sought to examine how a skill acquired in VR compares to one acquired in the real world (RW), utilizing training to complete a dart-throwing task in either a virtual or real environment. We adopted a perceptual-motor approach in this study, employing measures of task performance (i.e., accuracy), as well as of perception (i.e., visual symptoms and oculomotor behavior) and motor behaviors (i.e., throwing kinematics and coordination). Critically, the VR-trained group performed significantly worse in terms of throwing accuracy compared to both the RW-trained group and their own baseline performance. In terms of perception, the VR-trained group reported greater acute visual symptoms compared to the RW-trained group, though oculomotor behaviors were largely the same across groups. In terms of motor behaviors, the VR-trained group exhibited different dart-throwing kinematics during training, but in the follow-up test adapted their throwing pattern to one similar to the RW-trained group. In total, VR training impaired real-world task performance, suggesting that virtual environments may offer different learning constraints compared to the real world. These results thus emphasize the need to better understand how some elements of virtual learning environments detract from transfer of an acquired sport skill to the real world. Additional work is warranted to further understand how perceptual-motor behaviors are acquired differently in virtual spaces.

A Narrative Review of the Current State of Extended Reality Technology and How it can be Utilised in Sport

“…Moreover, while skills learnt in VR have been found to improve performance when switching to a real-world setting, the performance following training in VR is poorer compared with the performance when someone has trained in a real-world setting from the outset [ 57 ]. Additionally, studies suggest that improvements in skill that are made within the VR environment do not always generalise to real-world settings [ 58 ]. In fact, a recent study demonstrated that playing a generic dart game available on an HTC Vive headset resulted in a worsening of performance compared with real-world training [ 58 ].…”

Feedback from HTC Vive Sensors Results in Transient Performance Enhancements on a Juggling Task in Virtual Reality

“…Earlier studies have shown that training in a VR environment can be even better than training in real life, though there is also a risk of becoming over-dependent on the VR feedback [ 21 ]. Overall, the literature does not provide a clear answer as to whether performance improvements in VR successfully translates to better performance in real life [ 17 , 18 ].…”

“…Nevertheless, some studies suggest that improvements in a VR context does not always generalize to real-life settings. For example, one recent study showed that playing a dart game available on HTC Vive resulted in worsening of real-life performance compared to real-life training; indeed, the dart throws actually got less accurate than dart throws prior to training in VR [ 17 ]. In other words, when it comes to the efficacy of improving motor skills through training in VR, results have been mixed.…”

Performance Variability During Motor Learning of a New Balance Task in a Non-immersive Virtual Environment in Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy and Typically Developing Peers

“…The unique practice conditions of non-immersive VEs may impact movement execution and performance variability. For example, interactions with virtual objects involve differing perceptual-motor affordances as compared to interaction with objects in the physical environment ( 55 , 56 ). A lack of 3D depth cues in a non-immersive VE influences distance estimates of where objects are in space, which may increase uncertainty about movement accuracy.…”

“…A lack of 3D depth cues in a non-immersive VE influences distance estimates of where objects are in space, which may increase uncertainty about movement accuracy. In addition, hand-held peripheral controllers that track movement (such as the one required by the Nintendo Wii or the HTC VIVE) may influence task interaction ( 56 ) as opposed to direct motion tracking.…”