In terms of what are the advantages, if we compare, for example,
a virtual reality simulation to just a two-dimensional display,
even if it's from the same perspective, a kind of an in the action point of view.
What sorts of advantages might be afforded by virtual reality as
opposed to a more traditional approach to showing athletes video or
film of what to expect in a given situation, and then moving on or
integrating that somehow into a practice drill?
Can you comment, and I guess an area that
I'm thinking specifically of is perception action coupling.
And the reality that maybe we can now do more because of this immersiveness
in that regard rather than just simply observing, retaining information,
going back on the field, and demonstrating we can actually do it in the action now.
>> I mean, firstly I'd make the comment that I guess there are a whole range of
different approaches that we could use to try and
facilitate the more rapid acquisition of these perceptual cognitive skills,
some of which involve using field-based practices.
Some of which involve using video and other types of interventions
to develop the right kinds of thought processes in athletes,
both during training and competition.
In regards to the use of simulation, the majority of the work in
sport has used video mainly because it's more efficient, it's less costly.
I mean, virtual reality does offer some advantages,
notably it's a more immersive environment, so
you do actually interact with the stimuli more so than you do using video.
There hasn't been any direct studies that I've actually compared
the relative effectiveness of video and virtual reality platforms, but
I guess the key thing about simulations, whether it's video or
Virtual reality base is the level of fidelity in a sense, so whether they
physically and psychologically recreate the performance environment.
So clearly, if we can develop virtual reality simulations that move us closer
to the real match situations, then I think that they provide potentially some very
exciting opportunities, both to train anticipation and
decision making skills, and also as a method to providing feedback to athletes.
Because I know, for instance, a lot of the sports teams are now using tracking
systems that provide movement data for players across the course of the game.
And then that data can then be ported into virtual environments.
So for instance, you could put the player back in the situation from the previous
game that you may have made a mistake and
use it as a great opportunity to provide feedback.
As well as potentially using it with that athlete or
another athletes as an opportunity to get a chance
to make that decision again in a practice environment rather than a match situation.
So there's no doubt that in future virtual reality
is likely to have an increasing role in trying to develop some of these
game intelligence skills in high performance sport.
I guess the biggest factor at the moment is the cost which
does remain somewhat high.