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Abstract:
Although failures of prospective memory have been linked to aviation accidents, prospective memory has not been integrated into pilot training or assessment. Virtual Reality (VR) offers ecologically robust flight environments for training and assessment of prospective memory, but the effects of VR, as compared to 2D displays, have yet to be studied. VR flight simulation is also an ideal environment for studying the detection of time- or event-based cues, which are key to triggering the prospective memory task. Participants (N=25, non-pilots) completed both time- and event-based prospective memory tasks along an automated route, with the percentage of completed tasks recorded. Participants were trained on the prospective memory cues in either VR or 2D but "flew" in both conditions: VR (head-mounted 3D device), and 2D (flat screen display). Results from repeated measures analysis of variance tests showed that performance was enhanced in VR only for time-based prospective memory tasks.