A Framework for Incorporating Affective Learning in Virtual Training Environments

Changes in modern warfare have resulted in frequent and lengthy deployments for US military personnel. These changes necessitate the development of training alternatives to the costly and time consuming live training exercises. One alternative to live training is the use Virtual Environment (VE) based immersive training systems. Current VE based systems focus exclusively on incorporating the psychomotor and cognitive aspects of learning. This may lead to decrements in learning outcomes due to the lack of an affective learning component in those systems. If training systems are to be effective, they must consider the user’s affective state as a key component in learning. Through a process of affective state detection and induction, VE based training system can better approximate the real-world experiences encountered by soldiers upon deployment in the field. In Phase 2, VRSonic will design and develop an immersive VE system that incorporates affective learning. Specific activities in phase 2 include 1) Investigating affective state detection algorithms, 2) Expanding the VE lesson plan concept into a selected domain, and 3) Developing the affective state integration mechanism. Ultimately, VRSonic will build a working run-time system that integrates affective cues in immersive training systems.