2024 Volume 3 Pages 1-13
A challenge with mental training is that the training environment often differs from the competition environment. This challenge can be addressed using virtual reality (VR). The objectives of this study were to construct a VR space, based on an actual stadium, in which the user can move around as well as to obtain biometric data when users view that space. Obtaining biometric data in this way enables the assessment of changes in the minds of users caused by viewing the VR space. A VR environment in which the viewer can move was constructed based on the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Heart rate variability, psychological sweating, and electroencephalogram (EEG) were measured while users viewed this VR space through a head-mounted display. Participants were 10 university gymnasts and 9 university students with no gymnastics experience. While viewing the VR space in a sitting position, participants were allowed to move their head to look around the VR space. Viewing the VR space increased parasympathetic nerve function and skin conductance while increasing beta-band activity and decreasing alpha-band activity on EEG. These biometric data suggest that viewing the constructed VR space evoked a state in which cognitive information processing and arousal level were increased and visual attention was enhanced. In the future, these findings should be applied to construct VR spaces that more strongly evoke nervousness so that mental training can be conducted using that space.
