Using virtual humans and computer animations to learn complex motor skills: a case study in karate

Anne-Marie Burns^*,†, Richard Kulpa^*,†, Annick Durny^*, Bernhard Spanlang^‡, Mel Slater^‡,§ and Franck Multon^*,†

^(*) M2S Lab., UFR APS, U. of Rennes 2 - ENS Cachan, Av. Charles Tillon, 35044 Rennes, France
^(†) INRIA MimeTIC project, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes, France
^(‡) Event Lab, Facultat de Psicologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Campus de Mundet - Edifici Teatre, Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
^(§) Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys, 23,08010 Barcelona, Spain
E-mail: annema.burns@gmail.com, rkulpa@irisa.fr, annick.durny@uhb.fr, bspanlang@gmail.com, melslater@ub.edu, fmulton@irisa.fr

Abstract

Learning motor skills is a complex task involving a lot of cognitive issues. One of the main issues consists in retrieving the relevant information from the learning environment. In a traditional learning situation, a teacher gives oral explanations and performs actions to provide the learner with visual examples. Using virtual reality (VR) as a tool for learning motor tasks is promising. However, it raises questions about the type of information this kind of environments can offer. In this paper, we propose to analyze the impact of virtual humans on the perception of the learners. As a case study, we propose to apply this research problem to karate gestures. The results of this study show no significant difference on the after training performance of learners confronted to three different learning environments (traditional group, video and VR).