Physiological-based tools for virtual environment fidelity design guidance Navy STTR FY2007 Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2007 Topic No.: N07-T028 Topic Title: Physiological-based tools for virtual environment fidelity design guidance Proposal No.: N074-028-0345 Firm: Design Interactive, Inc. 1221 E. Broadway, Suite 110 Oviedo, Florida 32765 Contact: Kelly Hale Phone: (407) 706-0977 Web Site: www.designinteractive.net Abstract: While early theory suggested training systems would only transfer knowledge and skills to the degree that they were similar to the real world, recent research suggests required fidelity of training systems is dependent upon skills and behaviors associated with targeted training objectives -- fidelity of cues not associated with those objectives can be decreased without affecting training transfer. The Training Effectiveness Evaluation with Neurophysiological Metrics: Fidelity Assessment of VE Training Systems (TEE-FAST) framework herein proposed will build upon current theoretical frameworks for assessing VE system fidelity. The TEE-FAST framework will be grounded in a contextually-rich task analysis to derive training objectives, cue and cue fidelity experienced in the real work, and will incorporate behavioral and physiological measures to empirically evaluate operator performance and experience in a VE compared to the operational environment. Phase I work will collect cue fidelity information from operational and VE, identify physiological markers that encapsulate affective responses, develop the TEE-FAST framework to drive fidelity evaluations, and develop initial algorithms that will 1) compare the degree that there are theoretical mismatches, 2) compare the degree that there are response mismatches, and 3) identify potential causes of response mismatches and provide system design guidance to decrease the mismatch. Benefits: The TEE-FAST framework proposed herein will be used to guide training system evaluators from start to finish through the stages of evaluating training system fidelity at physical, functional, and psychological levels. Using algorithms developed under this effort, the software tool developed in Phase II will guide system evaluators through the process of evaluating critical task-related cues, comparing the full quality of interaction with a VE to that of the operational environment using behavioral and physiological metrics, and provide guidance to improve system fidelity at all levels (functional, physical, and psychological) to ensure the highest quality of interaction is accomplished with VE training systems. Thus the TEE-FAST framework developed under Phase I will provide a standard evaluation methodology to empirically evaluate fidelity and training effectiveness of VE systems that can then be adopted into a software evaluation tool during Phase II to provide consistent, standardized fidelity assessments of VE training systems. Return