Multiple agents boost user confidence in VR evacuation training
Influence of Agent Number and Behavior on Users' Psychological Responses in VR Evacuation Training
Human-Computer InteractionMultimediaRobotics
Summary
When people practice escaping dangers in virtual reality, the number and actions of nearby virtual characters affect how they feel and behave. The authors found that users act more confidently when many characters evacuate with them. Also, the paths chosen by these characters influence the users' decisions where to go. This means that in virtual training, not just the environment but how other people act matters a lot.
What this means in practice
- •For vr training developers: Design evacuation drills with multiple virtual agents and varied behaviors to improve user confidence and decision-making realism.
- •For emergency response coordinators: Create more effective training scenarios by including social influence factors through agent behavior in virtual evacuation exercises.
Authors
Naoki Matsumura, Kensuke Sugihara, Tomoko Yonezawa
Abstract
This study aims to build effective drill software by combining a virtual simulation of a disaster with multiple agents capable of expressing emotions. We evaluated how the number of agents and their emotional and behavioral actions during evacuation influence users in a virtual space. The results showed that users tended to act more confidently when many agents evacuated with them, and that the evacuation route chosen by the agents influenced the users' decision-making. These findings indicate that users' evacuation behavior is shaped not only by the environment itself but also by the collective behavior of surrounding agents, underscoring the need to consider how agent behavior affects users' psychological states during training.