Target Maintenance in Gaming via Saliency Augmentation: An Early-Stage Scotoma Simulation Study Using Virtual Reality (VR)
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Institute for Ophthalmic Research, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, 73430 Aalen, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Marco Gesi, Giuseppe Turini, Rosanna Maria Viglialoro, Marina Carbone and Sara Condino
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 7164; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157164
Received: 23 June 2021
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Revised: 27 July 2021
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Accepted: 28 July 2021
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Published: 3 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Serious Games and Mixed Reality Applications for Healthcare)
This study addresses the importance of salience placement before or after scotoma development for an efficient target allocation in the visual field. Pre-allocation of attention is a mechanism known to induce a better gaze positioning towards the target. Three different conditions were tested: a simulated central scotoma, a salience augmentation surrounding the scotoma and a baseline condition without any simulation. All conditions were investigated within a virtual reality VR gaming environment. Participants were tested in two different orders, either the salient cue was applied together with the scotoma before being presented with the scotoma alone or the scotoma in the wild was presented before and, then, with the augmentation around it. Both groups showed a change in gaze behaviour when saliency was applied. However, in the second group, salient augmentation also induced changes in gaze behaviour for the scotoma condition without augmentation, gazing above and outside the scotoma following previous literature. These preliminary results indicate salience placement before developing an advanced stage of scotoma can induce effective and rapid training for efficient target maintenance during VR gaming. The study shows the potential of salience and VR gaming as therapy for early AMD patients.
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Keywords:
AMD; salience; virtual reality; VR; preventive care
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MDPI and ACS Style
Sipatchin, A.; García García, M.; Wahl, S. Target Maintenance in Gaming via Saliency Augmentation: An Early-Stage Scotoma Simulation Study Using Virtual Reality (VR). Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 7164. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157164
AMA Style
Sipatchin A, García García M, Wahl S. Target Maintenance in Gaming via Saliency Augmentation: An Early-Stage Scotoma Simulation Study Using Virtual Reality (VR). Applied Sciences. 2021; 11(15):7164. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157164
Chicago/Turabian StyleSipatchin, Alexandra, Miguel García García, and Siegfried Wahl. 2021. "Target Maintenance in Gaming via Saliency Augmentation: An Early-Stage Scotoma Simulation Study Using Virtual Reality (VR)" Applied Sciences 11, no. 15: 7164. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157164
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