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Browsing by Subject "virtual reality"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Designing Immersive Virtual Environments for Cognitive Learning and Spatial Memory Tasks
    (2019-06) Adigun, Christianah
    Virtual reality provides a realistic way to learn at a flexible progression and to develop skills that could be difficult to grasp in the real world. Our hypothesis is that there are certain VR affordances that educators and developers can leverage to build simulated learning experiences that can transform education and training activities. The immersive experience VR provides through real-time interaction, engagement, spatial awareness, visual representations, and media richness is useful for developing experiential learning environments. Watching a dinosaur egg hatch and the development of its complete life cycle in a virtual Jurassic world may provide more visual context than reading a textbook on the life cycle of the same dinosaur. The goal of this study was to better understand which interaction mechanism may be better for the design of immersive virtual learning environments. We investigated the role that natural locomotion and teleportation may have on cognitive and spatial information processing in a virtual environment. The learning space is a virtual cemetery, and it consists of thirteen tombstones with stories about the lives of the residents of spoon river, a fictional town mentioned in Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. We conducted experiments by placing subjects in four different conditions: teleportation across long distances, walking across long distances, teleportation across short distances and walking across short distances. Our hypotheses are that shorter natural walking paths will produce better outcomes on the cognitive assessments and spatial memory assessments we conducted. Teleportation, while beneficial for navigating virtual reality from a small, confined physical space, may not provide enough continuous spatial updating and therefore may be somewhat detrimental for certain learning environments. We analyzed the results and built a linear regression model to find any association between input and output variables. Our data analysis revealed that: • For definite memory recall and proprioception of the spatial layout of a virtual space, it is better to walk than to teleport. • To visually match objects to their spatial positions, a learning space that is logically investigated through shorter distance movements is better than longer paths. • Strong cognitive understanding is achieved if the learning space properly balances exploration of the environment and discovery of information.
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    Effects of Virtual Reality Exercise on Promoting Physical Activity and Health among College Students: A 4-week Randomized Controlled Trial
    (2021-07) Liu, Wenxi
    Background: Despite the known benefits of physical activity, the prevalence of physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are significant issues in public health. Young adults, such as college students, are a population at risk for decreased physical activity participation due to the newfound responsibility of balancing school, work, and personal responsibilities. Previous findings indicated the lack of motivation was one of the important factors explaining the decreased physical activity participation. The emerging technology of immersive virtual reality combining with exercise provide a fun and motivating means for promoting physical activity and health-related outcomes. The cross-sectional studies have shown the promising influences of immersive virtual reality exercise on health-related outcomes, however, there is no experimental study to further conclude the findings. Therefore, the purpose of this randomized control trial was to examine the effectiveness of a 4-week VR-based exercise intervention on promoting PA and improving physiological and psychological outcomes among college students. Methods: A total of 36 college students were recruited from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: (1) intervention group – participants were asked to exercise on an immersive virtual reality-based exercise bike for one hour per session, two times per week, for 4 weeks; (2) control group – participants were asked to maintain their usual activities for 4 weeks. Participants’ weight, height, percentage of body fatness, and cardiovascular fitness were assessed by the validated instruments at baseline and 4 weeks. The exercise motivation, mood states, and depressive symptoms were assessed via a battery of surveys at baseline and 4 weeks. Participants’ physical activity levels were assessed via International Physical Activity Questionnaire at baseline and post-intervention follow-up. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine the differences between intervention and control group on physiological and psychological outcomes over time. The within-subjects factor was “time” and the between-subjects factor was “group”. Results: The Chi-Square test and the independent t-test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference regarding baseline demographic, physiological, and psychological outcomes between intervention and control group at baseline. Regarding exercise motivation, significant interactions were observed on identified regulation (F(1,34) = 6.55, p = 0.02) and intrinsic regulation (F(1,34) = 11.21, p = 0.02). Regarding mood states, significant interactions were observed on confusion (F(1,34) = 6.72, p = 0.01), fatigue (F(1,34) = 6.46, p = 0.02), tension (F(1,34) = 10.44, p = 0.003), and vigor (F(1,34) = 7.22, p = 0.01). In addition, a significant interaction was observed on the depression symptoms (F(1,34) = 5.53, p = 0.03). Regarding physiological outcomes, significant interactions were observed on percentage of body fatness (F(1,34) = 17.26, p <0.001) and cardiovascular fitness (F(1,34) = 30.05, p <0.001). Lastly, a significant interaction was observed on physical activity levels (F(1,34) = 17.35, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The findings of the current study indicated that a 4-week virtual reality-based exercise intervention is effective in promoting college students’ intrinsic motivation and identified regulation toward exercise, improving overall mood states, depressive symptoms, cardiovascular fitness, body composition, and enhancing greater physical activity. It is suggested that immersive virtual reality exercise could be a fun and motivating means for promoting young adults’ physical activity and health-related physiological and psychological outcomes.
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    Historic Andrew Peterson Farmstead Virtual Reality App
    (Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2016) Caploe, Terrence; He, Wangzhuo; Matson, Nicole; Zhang, Letao; Lee, Min Ji; Pederson, Eben
    This project was completed as part of the 2015-2016 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with Carver County. The Andrew Peterson Farmstead, located near the city of Waconia, is a site with great historic significance. The Carver County Historical Society was interested in creative strategies to increase tourism to the farm and to provide a better experience for visitors. The goal of this project was to design interpretive signage to enhance the experience of visitors to the farmstead. CCHS project lead Wendy Petersen-Biorn collaborated with two teams of students in ARCH 3250: Community Design Practice Workshop; the first team developed a set of design recommendations for interpretive signage, and the second team created a proposal for a virtual reality application that would provide an "enhanced reality" experience for visitors. The students' final reports are available.
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    Indigenous Language Revitalization using Virtual Reality
    (2021-05-12) Werner, Colton
    Working within the framework of the Indigenous Futures project, a collaborative research project between the University of Minnesota and three local Indigenous communities, this thesis explores the potential of using VR environments to facilitate Indigenous language revitalization and trans-Indigenous exchange, specifically on the topic of star knowledge and stories. I implemented a virtual night sky filled with Micronesian, Ojibwe and Dakota constellations. These constellations carry rich cultural histories, and their stories have been passed down through generations within each community, making them an ideal topic for trans-Indigenous exchange. 3D text can be incorporated into the environment to label the constellations directly in the virtual sky; however, this raises the question of how the constellations' written names should be represented. To understand this important design choice, I developed a series of visual prototypes, both in English and the respective Indigenous languages incorporating various scripts and symbols to depict each name. The prototypes also explore where and when to display these labels (i.e., side-by-side, overlapping, changing over time). In this way, the project serves as a case study of some of the many options available to Indigenous communities for representing written forms of language in VR. Early feedback from collaborating Indigenous scholars supports the potential of VR environments in this style to open the door to further conversations about the importance of language in Indigenous culture and suggests that using "morphable 3D labels" (those that change over time to depict multiple names for the same constellation) may provide a useful graphical tool for facilitating these conversations.
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    Investigating Novel Virtual Reality and Telehealth Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Training Interoceptive Awareness
    (2023-10) Haley, Alexander
    Interoception – the ability to sense and integrate internal body signals – plays a critical role in how complex organisms survive and function. It is essential for maintaining stable conditions within the body (e.g., keeping warm), for meeting daily needs within a changing world (e.g., quenching thirst), and for adapting to future needs (e.g., remembering seasonal changes in foraging spots). While research into interoception started more than a hundred years ago, it is not well understood today. Researchers are still mapping out all of the brain and body pathways through which interoception operates. Additionally, research into the most optimal methods for manipulating and measuring interoception is at an early stage. Despite these uncertainties, prior research suggests that a person’s conscious awareness of internal body signals, known as interoceptive awareness, is not a fixed capacity, rather it can be altered through training. This dissertation investigates how mindfulness practices can be combined with emerging technology to train interoceptive awareness. First, we introduce a novel virtual reality (VR) mindfulness-based intervention that is designed for cultivating greater interoceptive awareness. As part of this work, we also introduce a new qualitative methodology to understand users’ experiences of interoceptive awareness in VR. We found that the methodology elicited valuable responses from participants regarding their interoceptive awareness experiences within the novel VR mindfulness-based intervention. Most significantly, our work represents the first attempts to qualitatively investigate a multi-dimensional model of interoceptive awareness in VR. It also establishes a critical foundation for conducting future follow-on comparative studies that can provide more complete design guidelines for how best to train interoceptive awareness in VR. Next, we assessed the efficacy of a novel group telehealth mindfulness intervention, compared to an active control, for enhancing interoceptive awareness. While this second intervention is distinct from the prior VR mindfulness-based intervention, it answers the critical question of whether interoceptive awareness can be trained via a group intervention delivered remotely versus alone in a lab. We found that the remote, group mindfulness intervention can improve interoceptive awareness and that these gains are relatively stable at six and twelve month follow-up time points. Lastly, we confirmed that the telehealth intervention can be delivered by non-mindfulness experts, which points to the promise of scalable, group telehealth mindfulness interventions. Finally, we examine potential predictive factors related to interoceptive awareness outcomes by conducting a hierarchical regression analysis. Knowledge of potential predictive factors is useful for optimizing interventions to enhance interoceptive awareness outcomes for various populations. We found that several factors influence post-intervention interoceptive awareness outcomes. Specifically, the factors of age, baseline mindfulness, and change in mindfulness from baseline to intervention completion significantly influence interoceptive awareness. In terms of baseline mindfulness, current literature has under-investigated this factor even though there is evidence that prior experience with mindfulness is very widespread in the United States. In summary, our work is a first step in the longer journey of weaving together emerging technologies with evidence-based interventions to positively impact public health. By studying two novel interventions individually before pursuing their combination, we hope to establish a solid foundation from which to pursue our larger, long-term vision. This larger vision includes the potential of VR as a powerful computing medium for embodied simulations to leverage telehealth as a critical mode of healthcare delivery to bring evidence-based health interventions outside the confines of traditional healthcare settings. We envision a future where clinicians, computer scientists, artists, and community members co-create immersive, social VR applications that connect geographically distant users to cultivate greater health and wellbeing around the world.
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    A Technical Communicator’s Role in the Future of Emerging Technologies
    (2020) Blissenbach, Rachel
    This research explores the roles, responsibilities, and duties of a technical communicator across varying fields involved with emerging technologies. The purpose of this study was to become more informed about how a technical communicator’s career will change and evolve over the next few years. To find this out, I interviewed 10 people who currently serve as either a technical communicator, someone who works with emerging technologies, or both. Interviews lasted anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes and were conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing software. Those interviewed included two technical writers at a medical device company, one freelancer, one 3D printing engineer, one augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) specialist, one university professor, two technical writers at software companies, one technical writer from a fitness equipment company, and one physician with a background in medical devices and engineering. Interviewees answered a series of 15 questions regarding technical communication, emerging technology, current and past job duties, software programs, and smart devices. Answers were collected and results were examined to provide an educated guess as to what the career of a technical communicator using emerging technologies like smart devices, 3D printers, or AR/VR will look like in the near future.
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    Visualizing Ancient Greek Rhetoric in Immersive Virtual Reality
    (2012-06-13) Kim, Kyungyoon; Jackson, Bret; Thorson, Lauren; Graff, Richard; Rabbani, Azadeh; Johnstone, Christopher L.; Keefe, Daniel F.
    The goal of this project is to reconstruct ancient Greek rhetorical sites in virtual environments, including simulating architecture, sound, crowds, to better understand how the physical settings structured and constrained the interactions that took place in them. Our work makes use of the large-format, head-tracked stereoscopic display at MSI, and our preliminary results include an immersive visualization of the Thersilion at Megalopolis, a site where speeches were once given to 10,000 people.
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    Wearables In Education
    (2017-05-31) Abdelqader, Bilal; Gee, Laura; Ernst, Nathan; Westgard, Xander
    The Wearables Research Collaboratory (WRC) is an open collaboration and research space for wearables-related initiatives, projects, and ideas stemming from the burgeoning interest in wearables and their impact on users and their work. As a collaboratory, we represent an incubator for bold ideas, and an environment where participants explore emerging wearables and share empirical direction for investigating the challenges and opportunities these technologies represent. This semester, we have been exploring the use of virtual and augmented reality in the classroom. We’ve been looking at how devices such as Google Cardboard, Google Glass, Google Daydream, and HTC Vive can be used in pedagogical settings; and at the possibility of virtual and augmented reality being more immersive to create better learners than traditional texts. We’re also comparing and contrasting these devices across different users, and envisioning their uses within the field of Technical Writing and Communication.