Training Dismounted Soldiers in Virtual Environments: Route Learning and Transfer.

Abstract

Abstract : The U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) is conducting a research program with the goal of using virtual environments (VE) to train dismounted soldiers. To accomplish this goal, the conditions necessary for transfer of training from VE to real world environments must be identified. This paper describes an experiment in which a VE computer model of a large office building is used to train spatial knowledge as it relates to learning routes through that building. This task is especially relevant to mission rehearsal of a hostage rescue attempt or other missions performed by Special Operations Forces. Sixty college students studied directions and photographs of landmarks for a complex route, then rehearsed the route using either the VE model, the actual building, or verbal directions and photographs. Everyone was then tested in the actual building. Building-trained students made fewer wrong turns than did VE-trained students, who in turn made fewer wrong turns and took less time to traverse the route than did verbally trained students. The results indicate that individuals can learn how to navigate through real world places by training in a virtual environment.