Adults Reaching Kinematics in Virtual Environment

The research question is to examine the effects of object size (large vs small) and task goal (reach at a comfortable pace vs reach as fast as possible) in the virtual environment. Forty-one healthy adults participated in virtual bubble-popping games that ran on our virtual reality platform (SuperPop VR), which can precisely measure reaching kinematics (movement time, straightness, jerkiness, and speed). Participants began with their dominant hand for each condition and alternated hands after each condition was tested three times. A repeated ANOVA was used for analyses. Reaches for small bubbles had longer duration, faster speed, and jerkier with more curved trajectories than reaches for large bubbles; reaches for small bubbles also had larger elbow and shoulder range of motion than reaches for large bubbles. In addition, reaches during participants’ comfortable pace had longer duration, slower speed, and larger shoulder range of motion than reaches during their fast pace. Additionally, participants’ non-dominant hands had faster speed than their dominant hands. Our findings confirmed that object size and task goals affected reaching kinematics even during VR games.