Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality Environment on Reaction Time, Agility and Coordination among Collegiate Students

Abstract

Background: Virtual reality is the sum of the hardware and software systems that seek to perfect an all-inclusive, sensory illusion of being present in another environment which is applied to a broad range of sports such as skiing, goalkeeping rugby union, baseball and basketball, pistol shooting and cycling speed. Reaction time is the elapsed time between stimulus onset and an individual’s response on elementary cognitive tasks. Coordination is the capability to perform a sequence of movements rhythmically smoothly and accurately. Agility refers to the capacity to quickly change the location of the entire body in space with quickness and accuracyObjectives: The main objective of this study was to see the effect of virtual reality table tennis on coordination, reaction time and agility among collegiate students.Material and Methods: Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 60 collegiate students of age group 18-24 years were taken. The subjects were divided into two groups as group A and group B of 30 each. Group A played table tennis game in real environment and group B played table tennis in virtual environment. Pre and post score were taken for coordination, reaction time and agility using hand eye coordination test, plate tapping test and Davies test respectively. The data was collected, compiled and analyzed.Result:Descriptive statistics, paired & unpaired ‘t’ test were used for the intra-group and intergroup comparison.Significant improvements were seen in post scores of coordination, reaction time and agility in both groups at 0.05 level in both real and virtual table tennis groups. However, when both groups were compared, non-significant differences were observed in all the variables.Conclusion:The study concluded that virtual reality table tennis is as effective as real table tennis in improving reaction time, coordination and agility among collegiate students.