Training in Virtual Environments: Analysis of Task Appropriateness

The need for evaluating task appropriateness in virtual training is discussed. A framework is developed for understanding navigational tasks and spatial cognition and their demands for training. The training abilities of virtual environments are critically examined and compared to the demands for navigational training. An experiment is performed to examine navigational training in a virtual environment and with a map. The results show superior performance for the group trained with the map, yet also show successful training using the virtual environment. A lack of guidelines for conducting virtual training is discussed, and further research is suggested