Learning in Affectively Intense Virtual Environments - LITE

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determine the best response and tactics to deal with the situation. In this regard, the
advantage of using virtual reality is that the situation could be modeled as closely as
possible without endangering the user. The variables can be altered in the environment to
simulate different scenarios or different degrees of threats.
There are a number of examples in which virtual reality has been applied for the
training of military and medical personnel for responding to emergency situations. One of
these provides the context for the current research – FiRSTE (First Responder Simulation
and Training Environment). This is a system developed at the University of Missouri –
Rolla, in collaboration with the Army’s Tank Automotive and Armaments Command
(TACOM) for the training of first responders in event of WMD usage (Berry & Hilgers,
2004; Hall et al., 2004; Leu et al., 2003; Misra, Decker, Barker, & Hilgers, 2004; Tichon,
Hall, Hilgers, Leu, & Agarwal, 2003). The project is aimed at determining the
effectiveness of virtual environments for training first responders and emphasized WMD
survey training. The FiRSTE environment supports 3 core features:
WMD event simulation: It provided a virtual simulation to facilitate chemical
survey operations with its ability to model the release of toxic gases in enclosed
structures.
Sensor simulation: The array of sensors that first responders use when entering a
site suspected of a WMD event are quite complex. The photo ionization detector
(PID) is the primary tool that measures gas concentrations and volatility in the
environment and has been modeled into the simulation to provide feedback to the
user in a heads up display (HUD).
Complex Structures: The gas release simulations that are commercially available
as common off the shelf (COTS) products mainly cater to diffusion in open
environments. Complex structures related to building have corners, partially
closed doors, ventilation ducts to define gas diffusion boundaries. Such indoor gas
diffusion simulations have been realistically simulated using FiRSTE.
A modified version of the FiRSTE environment was developed for the purposes
of systematically examining affectively intense learning (Hall et al., 2004), and this is
described later in the thesis in more detail.