Real VR, bridging the gap between reality and VR

Virtual Reality (VR) is a versatile tool that has been increasingly used for both research and learning.

However, people can perceive the virtual environment as unreal, and therefore behave in a different way than in reality. Bridging the gap between VR and reality could improve the validity of the data produced with VR methods.

This project aims to identify differences in the perception of realism between real and virtual scenarios, based on studies about immersion, augmented virtuality and environmental psychology.

Solutions to reduce those differences will be introduced in an improved VR scenario to be used for training in fire safety and emergency response.

Two groups of participants will receive training: one in the improved VR scenario and one in a real-world training facility.

Several weeks after, both samples will be put to test in a real-world scenario where they will need to apply what they learned during training.

A benchmark evaluation of the performance of both the real-world trained sample and the virtually trained sample will show how well the improved VR scenario simulated reality, expressing the potential for VR-training.