title: Feasibility of training athletes for high-pressure situations using virtual reality.
abstract: Virtual reality (VR) has been successfully applied to a broad range of training domains; however, to date there is little research investigating its benefits for sport psychology training. We hypothesized that using high-fidelity VR systems to display realistic 3D sport environments could trigger anxiety, allowing resilience-training systems to prepare athletes for real-world, highpressure situations. In this work we investigated the feasibility and usefulness of using VR for sport psychology training. We developed a virtual soccer goalkeeping application for the Virginia Tech Visionarium VisCube (a CAVE-like display system), in which users defend against simulated penalty kicks using their own bodies. Using the application, we ran a controlled, within-subjects experiment with three independent variables: known anxiety triggers, field of regard, and simulation fidelity. The results demonstrate that a VR sport-oriented system can induce increased anxiety (physiological and subjective measures) compared to a baseline condition. There were a number of main effects and interaction effects for all three independent variables in terms of the subjective measures of anxiety. Both known anxiety triggers and simulation fidelity had a direct relationship to anxiety, while field of regard had an inverse relationship. Overall, the results demonstrate great potential for VR sport psychology training systems; however, further research is needed to determine if training in a VR environment can lead to long-term reduction in sport-induced anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Precision Nutrition.
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stinson
authors.affiliation: Virginia Tech.
authors.forename: Doug A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Bowman
mesh_terms: D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000523:psychology*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D012916:Soccer / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*