Training in virtual environments: transfer to real world tasks and equivalence to real task training

Virtual environments (VEs) are extensively used in training but there have been few rigorous scientific investigations of whether and how skills learn ed in a VE are transferred to the real world. This research aimed to measur e and evaluate what is transferring from training a simple sensorimotor tas k in a VE to real world performance. In experiment 1, real world performanc es after virtual training, real training and no training were compared. Vir tual and real training resulted is equivalent levels of post-training perfo rmance, both of which significantly exceeded task performance without train ing. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated whether virtual and real trained real world performances differed in their susceptibility to cognitive and motor interfering tasks (experiment 2) and in terms of spare attentional capacit y to respond to stimuli and instructions which were not directly related to the task (experiment 3). The only significant difference found was that re al task. performance after training in a VE was less affected by concurrent ly performed interference tasks than was real task performance after traini ng on the real task. This finding is discussed in terms of the cognitive lo ad characteristics of virtual training. Virtual training therefore resulted in equivalent or even better real world performance than real training in this simple sensorimotor task, but: this finding may not apply to other tra ining tasks. Future research should be directed towards establishing a comp rehensive knowledge of. what is being transferred to real world performance in other tasks currently bring trained in VEs and investigating the equiva lence of virtual and real trained performances in these situations.