A Virtual Reality Game to Improve Physical and Cognitive Acuity

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Virtual Human Benchmark (VHB), a VR game designed to assess and enhance physical reaction, hand-eye coordination, and cognitive memory, with iterative testing and data logging for sports and rehabilitation applications.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel VR game that simulates a traditional physical game, with iterative design improvements and performance data logging for training and assessment.

Findings

VHB v2 improved usability and user experience.

Performance data logging aids coaching and rehabilitation.

User feedback guided game design enhancements.

Abstract

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 \textit{Oculus Rift} and \textit{Quest} headsets. The game comprises the \textit{reaction}, \textit{accumulator} and \textit{sequence} modes; \bj{along} with the \textit{reaction} and \textit{accumulator} modes which mimic BATAK functionalities, the \textit{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 \textit{reaction time}, \textit{speed between targets} and \textit{completed sequence patterns} provides useful data for coaches/therapists monitoring sports/rehabilitation regimens.