Transfer of Adaptation in Virtual Environments

Abstract

The goal of this research was to investigate the reflexivity of the crossover effect−i.e. does adaptation on VE and OKN devices occur, and, if so, does transfer of this training occur in both directions (VE to OKN as well as OKN to VE). Forty participants were randomly assigned to either an OKN or a VE training condition. In the OKN condition, participants trained on the OKN device for four days, and were then tested on the VE and OKN devices on day five. In the VE condition however, they trained on the VE device for four days and were then tested on the VE and OKN devices on day five. The results indicated a 14.6% drop in DLQ scores and a 48.12% drop in SSQ scores for the OKN group. Similarly, a 21.28% drop in DLQ scores and a 23.64% drop in SSQ scores was obtained for the VE group. These results suggest that transfer of training occurred for both VE and OKN environments. Finally, these patterns of results are consistent and point to the importance of specific pre-adaptation training environments that would promote transfer to other motion sickness platforms. These findings have implications for training on different platforms.