Quiet Eye Training in Virtual Reality and in the Real-World

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) may facilitate skill-learning in ways that have advantages over real-world training. QET was selected due to the wide implementation scope of training in VR, such as adaptive feedback and gaze cueing. Undergraduates who were novice to golf (N = 46) were randomly assigned into one of four conditions based on whether Quiet Eye Training (QET) was received or not, and whether subsequent golf putting practice occurred in the real-world (RW) or in VR. Participants had their golf putting performance and eye-gaze measured at baseline, post-training, and at a 1-week retention. Participants who received QET improved in their real-world putting performance, including number of putts holed and in radial error (distance between ball to hole) baseline-to-post, and baseline-to-retention, while their visuomotor behaviour was more similar to the expert. The performance improvement for QET participants was irrespective of whether they completed practice in VR or in the real-world. When putting in VR, participants who practiced their putting in the real-world (independent of training), improved in their radial error baseline-to-post and baseline-to-retention, while there was no improvement for participants who practiced in VR. The results suggest that QET may facilitate real-world golf putting performance improvement, irrespective of whether practice following the gaze training is conducted in VR or in the real-world. Further, real-world skills may transfer to VR environments, but that skills practiced in VR may need additional training to facilitate real-world performance improvement.