Author Identifier (ORCID)
Paola Chivers: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2278-4857
Abstract
In a variety of domains such as law enforcement and sport, virtual reality is being explored to simulate field-based decision-making contexts. 360-degree video virtual reality (360VR) is innovative as it can immerse the user in a simulated environment, present egocentric, stereoscopic vision and allows for head movements to perceive visual information. However, it is unknown whether physical, rather than psychological fidelity, is crucial for performance, and its impact upon cognitive load, relative to immersion. This study investigated simulator fidelity, presence, and cognitive load across immersion (two-dimensional video and 360VR) in an exemplar sport-specific decision-making task. Thirty skilled Australian Rules Football players completed a task under varied physical to psychological fidelity (normal to blurred vision stimuli). There were no significant differences in decision-making performance across immersion (simulators) but some decrement across vision conditions was observed. Sense of presence was significantly higher in 360VR compared to two-dimensional video, whilst there were no significant differences in cognitive load across simulator modality. These findings suggest that psychological fidelity is crucial for decision-making performance, which is independent of simulator immersion, and ratings of presence and cognitive load. In application, 360VR may be more effective, than video simulation, in increasing user acceptance of the technology to assess and accelerate decision-making skill. Collectively, these findings provide theoretical implications for the presentation of task-relevant visual information over creating simulators which prioritise visual realism.
Keywords
Decision-making, immersion, presence, psychological fidelity, virtual reality
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
4-1-2026
Volume
90
Issue
2
PubMed ID
41961311
Publication Title
Psychological Research
Publisher
Springer
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Funders
The lead author was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program scholarship.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Hoyne, Z. G., Morris-Binelli, K., Müller, S., Piggott, B., Chivers, P., & Dekker, E. (2026). Influence of simulator physical fidelity and immersion on decision-making skill, presence, and cognitive load. Psychological Research, 90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-026-02236-2