Assignment 2 - Virtual Reality Cognitive Testing Application

“CatchiBall”

itch.io : https://jalaxy.itch.io/ kit-208-assignment-2-vr

Introduction

Trying to improve reaction time? An aspiring cricket player? Do you feel like age is slowing you down?

Look no further.

Description of the application

The application is designed to create an experience for the user where they can test and improve their reaction time alongside their hand-eye coordination. The user is placed in a building. The user then enters a separate room, pressing a red button, and the test begins. Upon pressing the button red balls begin to be fired at the user at regular intervals and it is the user's goal to catch the said balls and dispense them in the bins on each side of the player. For every ball placed in a bin, the player acquires a point. The player attempts to achieve as many points as possible in the given time before the test expires (set to 30 seconds).

For my chosen scenario of testing cognitive fitness, this application covers the aspect of reaction time and alertness. The score that the player receives is largely based on the consistency of their reaction time. There is also an aspect of good hand-eye coordination which would improve effectiveness in this test. The interface problem that this problem solves is the lack of cognitive testing in a 3-D environment. Many cognitive testing applications purely relate to the raw efficiency of the users' cognitive input in a 2-D environment, which is not often applicable to many real-world situations. The goal of this program is to test and train reaction time in simulation which involves spatial awareness which is required for many sports such as soccer, racing and football. The element of the user having to understand and read the flight of the ball is a big element of the test which adds more layers to the effectiveness. The amalgamation of spatial awareness and reaction time could be likened to other real-world applications such as improving elderly people's ability to drive as this is another task that uses this skill combination.

Lledo’s academic article compares the effectiveness of rehabilitating stroke patients in a 3-D environment versus a 2-D environment. It states how trajectories improve rehabilitation, which would be like how the test in ‘CatchiBall’ would more effectively increase cognitive ability. (Lledó et al., 2016)

Interaction Design

There are multiple interactions between the user input and the program for this application. They include the physical button press to begin the test, the grabbing of the balls fired at the user, the user dropping the ball and the collision between it and the box or floor. The button interaction is not a necessary interaction for this program to achieve its goal. A simple button press on the controllers for instance could achieve the same effect of beginning the test. The button press is just in the 3D environment for simplicity.

The catching mechanic though on the other hand is a largely important interaction to achieve the desired effect of the test. The user’s ability to time the button press with the movement of their arm toward the ball creates the effect of catching a ball in real life. It is this interaction that is necessary for the application to be set in a 3-D environment because of the depth perception which has been previously mentioned regarding its importance in relation to spatial intelligence.

The third user interaction of the ball with either the floor or the bin is not directly impactful on the primary objective of the test (reaction training) but, the action of the user attempting to place the ball in a designated location does have side effects which increase the effectiveness of the training. A study in 2011 by Duke University on its athletes, found that when sensory input is increased in a task there is a correlation with increased ability in the said task post-training (Appelbaum et al., 2011). For our test extra interaction of making the user place the ball in the bin created a secondary stimulus for the user which similar to the beforementioned study, is said to increase ability.

Figure 1 Basketballer Steph Curry using secondary stimulation in his training (NBC Sports, 2016)

Figure 2 Storyboard: Example of elderly man improving cognitive ability through the effect of training in a 3-D environment.

Technical Development

The technology used in the development of this application is the Oculus Quest 2 in combination with Unity VR development on PC. The headset is necessary to allow the user to enter the 3-D environment of the test. The two handheld controllers use motion tracking to apply their position relative to the user's headset (which is where the avatar is in the game). The catching of the task requires the use of triggers on the controllers to catch the ball as they come into range.

Descriptions of 3D Models

Ball – Fired towards the player to catch. Deposited into the bins for points.

Deposit Bin – Where the player must place the balls to achieve a score.

  Wall/Scoreboard – Back wall of the testing room, also the canvas for the scoreboard.

Floor - floor

Red Button – The button used to activate the test, becomes yellow while the test is active.

Walls Prefab – Default prefab of rooms.

References

Used ChatGPT to co-create four scripts: Ball Spawner Script, Ball Movement Script, Ball Catching Script, and Score Manager Script.

ChatGPT chatlog: https://chat.openai.com/share/581e04d8-850d-446b-be6c-4afcff332a61

Used Mylo tutorial content for some of used content.

Appelbaum, L.G. et al. (2011) ‘Improved visual cognition through stroboscopic training’, Frontiers in Psychology, 2. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00276.

Lledó, L.D. et al. (2016) ‘A comparative analysis of 2D and 3D tasks for virtual reality therapies based on robotic-assisted neurorehabilitation for post-stroke patients’, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 8. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2016.00205.

NBC Sports, Steph Curry’s mind-numbing drills are not to be believed (2016) Youtube. NBC. Available at:

(Accessed: 20 August 2023).