From: Dan Owen <dowen@BBN.COM>
Subject: Re: SCI: Vr and Psychology
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 08:54:42 PDT


>Date:         Thu, 5 Nov 1992 19:40:34 -0800
>From:         "Human Int. Technology" <hlab@u.washington.edu>
>Subject:      Sci-VW: Re: SCI: Vr and Psychology
>To:           Multiple recipients of list VIRTU-L <VIRTU-L%UIUCVMD.BITNET@pucc.princeton.edu>
>
>From: lishka@dxcern.cern.ch (Christopher Lishka)
>Subject: Re: SCI: Vr and Psychology
>Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 10:10:57 GMT
>Organization: CERN European Lab for Particle Physics
>
>Anyhow, at the *very* end of the film was a single scene that was
>completely out of context of the rest of the movie.  It supposedly
>scared the audience quite out of their wits time and time again.  The
>scene was simply a close-up of one of the robbers with a gun pointed
>directly at the camera.  The robber fires the gun (which, in the
>theatre, would supposedly be accompanied by a firing sound), the
>explosion is seen in the gun, and smoke rises from the barrel.  I have
>seen this film, and this scene is quite lame by todays standards.
>However, at the time it was very scary.
>
>I assume this kind of stuff will certainly happen in VR.  I haven't
>tried any VR good enough to simulate it yet (the Virtuality games
>aren't realistic enough), but I am sure it will be achieved in the
>future.  I wonder if virtual roller-coaster rides will need the same
>kinds of warnings ("people with heart conditions should not ride
>this") as the real thing?
>                                                   Christopher Lishka

	Yes, this sort of reaction is among those elicited by existing
networked VR training systems, such as the tank training systems Simnet
(US) and AGPT (Germany).  Once one is inside the shell of the simulator
(a mock tank interior) with the door closed, a very interesting set of
reactions occur which I call sensory substitution (as opposed to sensory
deprivation).  Everything the participants see and hear from their
various networked simulators is part of the computer mediated collective
VR.

	The tanks have the periscopes which are the primary windows to
the world in real tanks, but the imagery is computer generated from a
shared virtual world (sight substitution).  Participants in different
simlator shells (tanks) can see each other moving, firing and being hit
by opposing 'real' (human controlled) or virtual (computer controlled)
opponents.

	The soldiers don radio headgear similar to the real thing, but
the radio traffic is all between team members (sound substitution).  I
have heard people panic, curse and get hysterical during mock battles. 
The powerful visceral effect of this type of immersion must be
experienced to be appreciated.  It really gets under your skin and does
NOT feel like a game.

	Since the soldiers' training is intended to enhance their
collective skills (teamwork) in warfighting conditions, naturally their
adrenaline levels are already raised.  Having experienced a mock battle
and been killed by an enemy tank in Simnet, I can attest to the powerful
emotions and somatic reaction of such VR training.

Dan