Rao Akash K, Chandra Sushil, Dutt Varun
Applied Cognitive Science Laboratory, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Kamand, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Defence Research and Development Organization, New Delhi, India.
Front Psychol. 2022 Nov 14;13:872061. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872061. eCollection 2022.
Dynamic decision-making involves a series of interconnected interdependent confluence of decisions to be made. Experiential training is preferred over traditional methods to train individuals in dynamic decision-making. Imparting experiential training in physical settings can be very expensive and unreliable. In virtual reality (VR), synthetic environments play a significant role in providing flexible and cost-effective training environments to enhance dynamic decision-making. However, it is still unclear how VR can be used to impart dynamic decision-making training to increase cognitive performance in complex situations. Besides, different repetitive training methods like desirable difficulty framework and heterogeneity of practice have been evaluated on generic cognitive and motor tasks. However, an evaluation of how these repetitive training methods facilitate dynamic decision-making in an individual in a virtual complex environment setting is lacking in the literature. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different repetitive training methods in immersive VR on dynamic decision-making in a complex search-and-shoot environment. In a lab-based experiment, 66 healthy subjects are divided equally and randomly into three between-subject training conditions: heterogenous, difficult, and sham. On Day 1, all the participants, regardless of the condition, executed an environment of a baseline difficulty level. From Days 2 to 7, the participants alternatively executed the novice difficulty and expert difficulty versions of the environment in the heterogenous condition. In difficult conditions, the participants executed the expert difficulty version of the environment from Days 2 to 7. In the sham condition, the participants executed an unrelated VR environment from Days 2 to 7. On Day 8, the participants executed the baseline difficulty version of the environment again in all the conditions. Various performance and workload-based measures were acquired. Results revealed that the participants in the heterogenous and difficult conditions performed significantly better on Day 8 compared with Day 1. The results inferred that a combination of immersive VR environment with repetitive heterogenous training maximized performance and decreased cognitive workload at transfer. We expect to use these conclusions to create effective training environments in VR for imparting training to military personnel in dynamic decision-making scenarios.
动态决策涉及一系列相互关联、相互依存的决策汇聚。相较于传统方法，体验式训练更适合用于培养个体的动态决策能力。在实际场景中进行体验式训练可能成本高昂且不可靠。在虚拟现实（VR）中，合成环境在提供灵活且经济高效的训练环境以增强动态决策能力方面发挥着重要作用。然而，目前仍不清楚如何利用VR进行动态决策训练以提高在复杂情况下的认知表现。此外，诸如期望难度框架和练习异质性等不同的重复训练方法已在一般认知和运动任务中得到评估。然而，文献中缺乏对这些重复训练方法如何在虚拟复杂环境中促进个体动态决策的评估。本研究的目的是评估沉浸式VR中不同重复训练方法对复杂搜索与射击环境下动态决策的影响。在一项基于实验室的实验中，66名健康受试者被平均且随机地分为三个组间训练条件：异质组、困难组和假对照组。在第1天，所有参与者，无论处于何种条件，都执行一个基线难度水平的环境。从第2天到第7天，异质组的参与者交替执行新手难度和专家难度版本的环境。在困难组条件下，参与者在第2天到第7天执行专家难度版本的环境。在假对照组条件下，参与者在第2天到第7天执行一个不相关的VR环境。在第8天，所有条件下的参与者再次执行基线难度版本的环境。获取了各种基于表现和工作量的测量数据。结果显示，与第1天相比，异质组和困难组的参与者在第8天的表现显著更好。结果推断，沉浸式VR环境与重复异质训练相结合可使转移时的表现最大化并降低认知工作量。我们期望利用这些结论在VR中创建有效的训练环境，以便在动态决策场景中对军事人员进行训练。
