Virtual Reality Games Can Improve Memory Retention of Safety Instructions

vrml writes: Using a virtual reality (VR) headset to experience risky situations as immersive 3D games improves memory retention of passenger safety instructions, according to research published in the IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, and illustrated by a YouTube video. Researchers recruited occasional flyers: half of them played a VR gaming experience of an airliner water landing and evacuation, while the other half studied a real airline safety card. After one week, passengers who had studied the safety card suffered a significant loss of knowledge, while passengers who had played the VR game fully retained the safety knowledge gained. The research group has now made available its emergency water landing experience also for the Oculus Rift.

Comments

Hmmm ....

[gstoddart]

Oddly enough, I know someone who works in this sector ... crash simulators for helicopters in the event they make a water landing.

While this might be good for passengers to know more than the safety card ... you want to be sure your actual flight crew have had real training.

Because when it's dark, chaotic, and water is everywhere you want to be damned sure the people responsible have done these steps under something resembling real circumstances, and not a frigging video game.

So, if you work in the offshore oil industry, for instance, you MUST take this training. And your video game just isn't gonna cut it.