Special Considerations for Navigation and Interaction in Virtual Environments for People with Brain Injury

When a Virtual Environment (VE) is designed, decisions regarding the navigation of the viewpoint, interaction with objects, and the behavior of the VE itself are made. Each of these can affect the usability and the cognitive load on the user. A VE that had previously been constructed as a prototype tool for the assessment of brain injury has been studied to establish the consequences of such design decisions. Six people, two with brain injury, have used the VE to perform a specific task (brewing coffee) a total of ten times over two sessions separated by a week. These trials were video recorded and analysed. Results and implications are presented and discussed