VR training: no substitute for the real thing

In 5 seconds UdeM researchers find that cognitive training using NeuroTracker virtual-reality software does not, in fact, improve the on-field performance of teenage elite soccer players.

The virtual-reality (VR) cognitive-training tool NeuroTracker, also known as 3D-MOT, does not enhance the performance of teenage elite athletes on the field, according to a new study led by Université de Montréal adjunct professor of optometry Thomas Romeas.

In his study, published in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Romeas, who heads the research-and-innovation department at the Institut national du sport du Québec, failed to replicate the results of an earlier study he did that concluded the technology was effective.

The previous study, published in 2019, had limitations, he said. “We had three groups of soccer players – experimental, control and placebo – but the sample size was small, with only seven to 10 athletes per group."

For the new study, Romeas and his research team designed a more rigorous protocol and also more than doubled the sample size. Aged 12 to 19, the 62 teenage soccer players recruited from a Quebec professional soccer club academy were divided into two groups.

One was an experimental group that underwent NeuroTracker training. The other was a control group whose participants did not receive cognitive training. Both groups were monitored for 10 weeks.

Mimicking game conditions

Thomas Romeas

NeuroTracker is a VR system that uses software and a 3D headset to create an immersive environment that simulates attention and peripheral visual tracking.

“When wearing the headset, athletes see eight virtual balls moving randomly,” Romeas said. “Four are targets they have to follow with their eyes and the other four are distractions they must try to ignore. It takes intense concentration and effective visual strategies to keep track of the four targets as they move faster and faster along random trajectories.”

To make the training more true to life, the researchers added a layer in which the subjects had to discern the direction of passes by virtual players while simultaneously tracking the moving balls.

This better replicates what happens in a real soccer game, where players have to focus on multiple players in motion while concentrating on critical and specific movement intentions.

To assess the effectiveness of the training, the researchers evaluated whether the participants’ performance on the NeuroTracker tasks and their attention improved over time, and whether their on-field performance improved compared to the control group.

The results were mixed.

“The NeuroTracker group showed significant improvement in tracking balls with their eyes, but this cognitive training did not transfer to on-field performance in a reduced game situation,” said Romeas. “However, this result is not entirely surprising given the difficulty of achieving distant transfer (i.e. between different contexts) and of controlling for the factors that influence performance in transfer tests.”

The researchers also found no near transfer (i.e. between contexts with common characteristics) on the cognitive attention test, which could be explained by the athletes’ already high levels of attention.

“The margin for improvement was very small,” Romeas noted. “Most of the athletes plateaued on the very first attention test and it was difficult to observe statistically significant changes over time.”

Coaches are still essential

The findings suggest that more research is needed to verify the effects of cognitive training on athletes. For now, the scientific literature provides stronger support for the benefits of domain-specific training, or training that closely simulates the actual conditions and demands of the sport.

While Romeas sees potential for VR in training for specific tasks and environments, he believes much work is needed to make it useful for high-level athletes.

“These technologies need to be truly representative in the sense that they not only recreate the environment and field situations, but also adequately represent human movement patterns and interactions,” he argued. “They also need to demonstrate added value compared to real-world training by allowing users to infinitely adjust contextual parameters that cannot easily be changed on the field.”

Romeas stressed that while VR can complement traditional training, it will never replace it.

“The role of the coach is still crucial in creating learning environments that closely match playing conditions in order to maximize transfer on game day, and scientists should do more to support the coach’s work,” he concluded.

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