| The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of virtual reality training on the development of cognitive memory and handgun accuracy by law enforcement neophytes. One hundred and six academy students from 6 different academy classes were divided into two groups, experimental and control. The experimental group was exposed to virtual reality training for a period of 8 hours. The control group was exposed to the traditional, non-interactive training that occurred on a gun range, also for a period of 8 hours. After exposing the groups to their respective training, a counter-balance technique was utilized to expose both groups to a series of 3 law enforcement related scenarios. The time and number of shots that each participant used to cognitively process and solve the scenarios were collected and analyzed by group and gender. There was a significant difference, by group, in both time and accuracy, with the virtual reality group using less time and posting more accurate scores. Mean accuracy scores indicated that the males participants were more accurate in their response to the scenario administration. |
