Communicating Information in Virtual Reality: Objectively Measuring Team Performance

It is unknown whether teams communicate more effectively in virtual spaces than when using more traditional technologies due to a lack of objective measures of team performance. Social psychology research shows that teams struggle to share information and suggests the absence of certain social cues in virtual reality (VR) would making sharing information more difficult. We developed a methodology to assess objective performance of communication during an information-gathering task. In this study, using a within-subjects design, 24 pairs of participants examined maps of cities both in VR, using a head-mounted display, and on desktop monitors. For each map, pairs worked together to read the maps, identify patterns amongst variables, and make predictions beyond the given data. In VR, the only cues from one's partner were speech and the ability to point out places on the map with a laser. In contrast, when working on the desktop monitors, partners were also able to view one another. Because groups struggle to share unique information, we anticipated a task providing partners with unique variables and requiring pairs to exchange information in order to solve problems would create a sufficiently challenging situation and be an effective way to measure team performance. Overall, performance in VR did not suffer, as pairs were just as fast and equally accurate at identifying patterns and predicting future events. Pairs performed better at reading the maps when in VR but did have better recall of the information viewed on the desktop monitors.