Effects of user physical fitness on performance in virtual reality

A person's level of physical fitness can affect their health and many other factors in their lives. However, little is known about the effect of physical fitness on factors relevant to virtual environments. Towards addressing this knowledge gap, we performed a research study examining the relationship of several physical fitness measures with performance, presence, and simulator sickness during use of an HMD-based maze-type virtual environment. We recorded the trajectory of each participant through the maze. Following the virtual environment, participants reported simulator sickness, presence, and provided written and verbal feedback. Our analysis of the data shows a positive correlation between self-reported physical fitness and user performance. Further research is necessary to establish a causal relationship, and methods to make use of this new information in the design of virtual environments.