Exploring the role of virtual reality in military decision training

Abstract

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.

Attention computing for enhanced visuomotor skill performance: Testing the effectiveness of gaze-adaptive cues in virtual reality golf putting

“…In the context of golfing skills, for example, intelligent monitoring systems could be designed to improve an individual's pre-performance routine, enhance the precise 'coupling' of their hand and eye movements, or even to support their reading of a course (e.g., by cueing eye-gaze towards significant topographical features that had not been attended to). Drawing on previous work in aviation [24,25,61], expert gaze patterns could then be used as a feedforward learning cue, while automated data algorithms could be used to index complex (and often undetected) underlying states (e.g., changes in anxiety, cognitive load, or task expertise). Hence the first steps demonstrated here illustrate the farreaching potential of these technology-enhanced training principles.…”

“…Immersive technologies, like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality, (AR) and mixed reality (XR) are becoming popular mediums for delivering training in industries like defence [24,25], surgery [26], rehabilitation [39], and sport [5,49,50]. VR is attractive for training providers because it delivers high levels of immersion [6,44], can increase motivation to train [44,57], and enables individuals to actively practice for complex and dangerous situations [46].…”

“…Instead of using immersive technologies simply as a replacement for existing training, there is also an opportunity to open up new pedagogical approaches. Indeed, VR allows the user to experience environments which are not physically possible in the 'real world', and can allow learners to get automated feedback on their performance by watching themselves from a third person perspective [24,25] or even to adopt the perspectives of other people [63,83]. One particularly promising avenue for improved pedagogy is adaptive VR.…”

“…Secondly, through showing the trainee the typical gaze patterns of domain experts, which is known as either eye movement modelling [31,72] or feedforward eye movement training [61,80,85]. Finally, the trainee can be shown their own eye movements as a form of feedback, which is known as feed-back eye movement training [24,25,81].…”

Task type matters: The impact of virtual reality training on training performance

“…The findings of studies suggest that VR can be a useful tool in military training for developing teamwork and communication skills, which are essential for collaborative problem‐solving. VR can provide safe and controlled environments for trainees to practice and improve interpersonal skills, such as communication, leadership and decision‐making, in realistic and immersive scenarios (Harris et al, 2023; Xie et al, 2021). Overall, these studies suggest that VR has the potential to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of teamwork and communication training in the military, which could improve the ability of military personnel to collaborate and solve problems together.…”