Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training
Introduction: Simulation methods, including physical synthetic environments, already play a substantial role in human skills training in many industries. One example is their application to developing situational awareness and judgemental skills in defence and security personnel. The rapid developme...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Virtual Reality |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1165030/full |
| _version_ | 1827978714734919680 |
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| author | D. J. Harris T. Arthur J. Kearse M. Olonilua M. Olonilua E. K. Hassan T. C. De Burgh M. R. Wilson S. J. Vine |
| author_facet | D. J. Harris T. Arthur J. Kearse M. Olonilua M. Olonilua E. K. Hassan T. C. De Burgh M. R. Wilson S. J. Vine |
| author_sort | D. J. Harris |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Simulation methods, including physical synthetic environments, already play a substantial role in human skills training in many industries. One example is their application to developing situational awareness and judgemental skills in defence and security personnel. The rapid development of virtual reality technologies has provided a new opportunity for performing this type of training, but before VR can be adopted as part of mandatory training it should be subjected to rigorous tests of its suitability and effectiveness.Methods: In this work, we adopted established methods for testing the fidelity and validity of simulated environments to compare three different methods of training use-of-force decision making. Thirty-nine dismounted close combat troops from the UK’s Royal Air Force completed shoot/don’t-shoot judgemental tasks in: i) live fire; ii) virtual reality; and iii) 2D video simulation conditions. A range of shooting accuracy and decision-making metrics were recorded from all three environments.Results: The results showed that 2D video simulation posed little decision-making challenge during training. Decision-making performance across live fire and virtual reality simulations was comparable but the two may offer slightly different, and perhaps complementary, methods of training judgemental skills.Discussion: Different types of simulation should, therefore, be selected carefully to address the exact training need. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:26:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ae1dcc817cc94d638ff8a836ebfbecb6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-4192 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:26:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Virtual Reality |
| spelling | doaj.art-ae1dcc817cc94d638ff8a836ebfbecb62023-03-27T13:49:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Virtual Reality2673-41922023-03-01410.3389/frvir.2023.11650301165030Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision trainingD. J. Harris0T. Arthur1J. Kearse2M. Olonilua3M. Olonilua4E. K. Hassan5T. C. De Burgh6M. R. Wilson7S. J. Vine8School of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomSchool of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomNewman and Spurr Consulting, Meadows Business Park, Camberley, United KingdomSchool of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomDefence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, United KingdomSchool of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomCineon Training, Exeter Science Park Centre, Exeter, United KingdomSchool of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomSchool of Public Health and Sport Science, University of Exeter, Exeter, United KingdomIntroduction: Simulation methods, including physical synthetic environments, already play a substantial role in human skills training in many industries. One example is their application to developing situational awareness and judgemental skills in defence and security personnel. The rapid development of virtual reality technologies has provided a new opportunity for performing this type of training, but before VR can be adopted as part of mandatory training it should be subjected to rigorous tests of its suitability and effectiveness.Methods: In this work, we adopted established methods for testing the fidelity and validity of simulated environments to compare three different methods of training use-of-force decision making. Thirty-nine dismounted close combat troops from the UK’s Royal Air Force completed shoot/don’t-shoot judgemental tasks in: i) live fire; ii) virtual reality; and iii) 2D video simulation conditions. A range of shooting accuracy and decision-making metrics were recorded from all three environments.Results: The results showed that 2D video simulation posed little decision-making challenge during training. Decision-making performance across live fire and virtual reality simulations was comparable but the two may offer slightly different, and perhaps complementary, methods of training judgemental skills.Discussion: Different types of simulation should, therefore, be selected carefully to address the exact training need.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1165030/fullVRshoot/don’t-shootdecision makingskill acquisitioncognition |
| spellingShingle | D. J. Harris T. Arthur J. Kearse M. Olonilua M. Olonilua E. K. Hassan T. C. De Burgh M. R. Wilson S. J. Vine Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training Frontiers in Virtual Reality VR shoot/don’t-shoot decision making skill acquisition cognition |
| title | Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| title_full | Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| title_short | Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| title_sort | exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training |
| topic | VR shoot/don’t-shoot decision making skill acquisition cognition |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1165030/full |
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