The Virtual Environment Performance Assessment Battery (VEPAB):Development and Evaluation

Abstract

The Virtual Environment Performance Assessment Battery (VEPAB) is a set of tasks developed to support research on training applications of virtual environment (VE) technology. VEPAB measures human performance on vision, locomotion, tracking, object manipulation, and reaction time tasks performed in three-dimensional, interactive VEs. It can be used to provide a general orientation for interacting in VEs and to determine both entry level performance and skill acquisition of users. In addition, VEPAB allows comparison of task performance, side effects and aftereffects, and subjective reactions across different VE systems. By providing benchmarks of human performance, VEPAB can promote continuity in training research involving different technologies, separate research facilities, and dissimilar subject populations. This paper describes the development of VEPAB and summarizes the results of two experiments, one to test the sensitivity of the tasks to differences between input control devices and the other to examine practice effects.

Learning to walk in virtual reality

“…In VR a number of standardized travel task tests have been proposed, with metrics based on time and accuracy [Bowman and Johnson 2001;Lampton et al 1994]. Typically, time is measured for travel between two defined points or along a defined path.…”

“…These data may be either positively or negatively correlated with time, because collisions may slow down a user [Lampton, Knerr, Goldberg, Bliss, Moshell and Blau 1994], or the user may deliberately travel quickly and accept that collisions will occur (a speed-accuracy tradeoff). The latter is more likely if a VR system imposes no penalty for collisions, unlike the real world where obstacle avoidance is a requirement for people's survival [Pelah and Koenderink 2007].…”

Instructional Strategies for Training Teams in Virtual Environments

“…The large room contains a pattern at eye-height on which the participant can focus as a reference while adjusting the HMD. The corridors, designed after the Virtual Environment Performance Assessment Battery (VEPAB) hallways task (Lampton, et al 1994), provide practice walking under more demanding conditions and allow speed and accuracy (collisions) measures for each participant. The second VE contains examples of the various types of equipment and friendlies, enemies, and neutrals that can be encountered during the missions.…”

A comparative study of three bimanual travel techniques for desktop virtual walkthroughs

“…This provides a large search space that is not fully explored. As for other human-computer interfaces, the empirical evaluation of the possible travel techniques is important to improve our understanding and eventually develop more usable systems and theoretical models [1,2,3,4,5].…”