Investigating the Impact of Virtual Reality-Based Design Tasks on User’s Performance and Congitive Process

Abstract

Virtual reality applications can potentially enhance various design and construction assessment-intensive tasks, such as design and construction review. However, the complexity in virtual reality VR architecture design increases cognitive load, potentially affecting participants' performance. It is Critical for better design and implementation of VR in construction, particularly mingle the user's cognitive load. As a preliminary inquiry, the study goal is to determine how much cognitive effort is required to evaluate building designs in VR environments. A Building Information Modelling BIM model was developed and integrated with the VR to simulate the construction design task. First, participants were asked to review the task in one of the following environments: paper-based, desktop-based, and immersive virtual environment. After that, they were asked to review the design task based on their knowledge, understanding, and memory. Participants' cognitive load, task performance, and situational awareness were compared and measured using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index NASA TLX and Situational Awareness and Review Technique SART. Collected data were analysed using the statistical procedure and concluded that participants' cognitive load was high. Their performance was better in the virtual reality environments based on their task completion time and the number of errors identified by other groups. Based on these findings, we can conclude that cognitive process characteristics, capabilities, and limitations will impact design review activities in the VR environment. The complicated nature of the architectural engineering and construction (AEC) sector necessitates a regular exchange of large amounts of data and complex information among project stakeholders, forcing the use of cutting-edge information technologies such as virtual reality. For visualisation purposes, the building sector is increasingly adopting current world technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). However, the usage of virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) is not restricted to design evaluation. These contemporary technologies can be utilised for a variety of purposes, including communication among project stakeholders, evaluation of construction information, safety/inspection, monitoring/control, and education/training. However, the most effective use of these techniques required a thorough understanding of human IVR/AR interaction. Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) is ideally suited for design evaluation because it can produce original, authentic, immersive, interactive, and emotive experiences. There is very limited research which tried to find out the issue related to cognition and performance in virtual reality through the building design model evaluation.