Responsable : Pierre DE LOOR

Participants : Michel BENEY, Cyril BOSSARD, Jérémy CORMIER, Camille DE KEUKELAERE, Pierre DE LOOR, Annie FERAY, Franck GANIER, Gilles KERMARREC, Agnès LE PALLEC, Karen MARTINAUD, Denis PASCO, Mathieu SIMONNET, Stéphane VIEILLEDENT, Alain ZANGER

Simulation, Learning, Representations, Action :

Scientific context :
Team SARA aims to go beyond the multi-field approach which consists of bringing specialized perspectives of several disciplines onto the same object, in order to place the interdisciplinary approach at the heart of the research device so that the given disciplinary evidence might contribute to a common understanding of the object. In this perspective, learning, be it cognitive, behavioral, affective or emotional, is often processed in a partial or segmented way, due to analysis requirements. To be able to modify the subjects' representations and actions, the objective is to turn to virtual reality as a theoretical and operational background. We do so in order to propose a more global and more natural simulation of learning and/or rehabilitation situations in which the subject is a spectator, an actor and a creator, in which s/he can transfer reality to the virtual and the virtual to reality, to introduce reality – which could be social – to the virtual and to observe the impact of the virtual in reality.

Themes : Research is organized around two complementary issues:

• Learning and Virtual Environments: aiming at studying the various forms of learning and their applications,
• Rehabilitation and Virtual Environments: connecting virtual reality with movement analysis to provide appropriate support in the rehabilitation of the handicapped, amongst other things.

Projects : They aim to :

• equalize the virtual training environments and learning efficiency so as to ensure the transfer of reality to the virtual by formalizing theoretical and/or practical learning situations (practical work, natural settings, etc.). Using virtual reality we will be able to develop instructors' conceptions of their own approaches to learning for a better understanding of processes they use.
• understand the influence and nature of representations, the context of learning (physical constraints - noise - or temporal constraints) and the relationships with the resultant cognitive costs. This understanding will serve to aid us in the design of procedural instructions for guiding learning, whilst avoiding expensive or potentially dangerous situations.
• have a more detailed understanding of the influence of subject-environment interactions on representations of body movement (navigation, locomotion) by introducing perceptivo-cognitive conflicts in order to identify the most efficient behaviors and thus to finalize the conception of virtual environments.
• increase the subject's control of what s/he learns or relearns by creating an innovative interface offering feedback on his/her motor behavior, and a certain number of physiological parameters authorizing applications in other domains (stress, relaxation, sport, art, etc.).
• provide the tools necessary for visual and kinesthetic representations. Virtual reality associated to movement analysis requires postural adjustments in immersion and in real-time in order to exceed the limits of more traditional work on mental imagery scales.
• integrate the social aspects, which are commonly neglected in experiments for ethical or practical reasons, by implementing carefully designed situations (prejudices, representations, discrimination, risk, transgression, regulation). Cognitive, behavioral, affective, emotional or social factors can be integrated into these situations within the framework of social interaction.

Key words :
action, learning, biofeedback, spatial cognition, emotion, ergonomics, training, handicap, mental imagery, procedural instructions, locomotion, modeling, motricity, navigation, virtual reality, regulation, rehabilitation, representations, simulation, transfer, virtual lab works.