A Virtual Reality Game to Improve Physical and Cognitive Acuity
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We present the Virtual Human Benchmark (VHB) game to evaluate and improve physical and cognitive acuity. VHB simulates in 3D the BATAK lightboard game, which is designed to improve physical reaction and hand-eye coordination, on the Oculus Rift and Quest headsets. The game comprises the reaction, accumulator and sequence modes; along with the reaction and accumulator modes which mimic BATAK functionalities, the sequence mode involves the user repeating a sequence of illuminated targets with increasing complexity to train visual memory and cognitive processing. A first version of the game (VHB v1) was evaluated against the real-world BATAK by 20 users, and their feedback was utilized to improve game design and obtain a second version (VHB v2). Another study to evaluate VHB v2 was conducted with 20 users, whose results confirmed that the deign improvements enhanced game usability and user experience in multiple respects. Also, logging and visualization of performance data such as reaction time, speed between targets and completed sequence patterns provides useful data for coaches/therapists monitoring sports/rehabilitation regimens.
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