A Comparison of Virtual Reality-Based Psychomotor Task Training with Visual and Haptic Aiding

The objective of this research was to compare learning effects of motor and cognitive skill training with three types of virtual reality (VR) simulation. The VR simulations included haptic (guidance forces), visual (attentional cues) and a combination of haptic and visual assistance designed to accelerate training. The results of the experiment revealed that conditions providing haptic assistance (alone and in combination with visual aids) provided more cognitive skill training than the visual- only aiding condition. Similarly, the visual condition resulted in better training of fine motor skill than the haptic condition. The combination condition led to some of the smallest training effects. The present investigation incorporating healthy participants was designed as part of an ongoing research effort to provide insight for the design of VR simulations to support rehabilitation of motor skills among disabled populations or training of new skills for occupational tasks.