Influence of simulator physical fidelity and immersion on decision-making skill, presence, and cognitive load

In a variety of domains such as law enforcement and sport, virtual reality is being explored to simulate field-based decision-making contexts. 360-degree video virtual reality (360VR) is innovative as it can immerse the user in a simulated environment, present egocentric, stereoscopic vision and allows for head movements to perceive visual information. However, it is unknown whether physical, rather than psychological fidelity, is crucial for performance, and its impact upon cognitive load, relative to immersion. This study investigated simulator fidelity, presence, and cognitive load across immersion (two-dimensional video and 360VR) in an exemplar sport-specific decision-making task. Thirty skilled Australian Rules Football players completed a task under varied physical to psychological fidelity (normal to blurred vision stimuli). There were no significant differences in decision-making performance across immersion (simulators) but some decrement across vision conditions was observed. Sense of presence was significantly higher in 360VR compared to two-dimensional video, whilst there were no significant differences in cognitive load across simulator modality. These findings suggest that psychological fidelity is crucial for decision-making performance, which is independent of simulator immersion, and ratings of presence and cognitive load. In application, 360VR may be more effective, than video simulation, in increasing user acceptance of the technology to assess and accelerate decision-making skill. Collectively, these findings provide theoretical implications for the presentation of task-relevant visual information over creating simulators which prioritise visual realism.