The effects of postural threat induced by a virtual environment on performance of a walking balance task

Rapid motor learning may occur in situations where individuals perceive a threat if they do not perform a task well. This rapid motor learning may be facilitated by improved motor performance and, consequently, more errorless practice. As a first step towards understanding the role of perceived threat on rapid motor learning, the purpose of this study was to determine how performance of a motor task is affected in situations where perceived threat is high. We hypothesized that perceived threat in a virtual environment would result in improved performance of a walking task (i.e., walking on a narrow beam). Results demonstrated that increased perceived threat did not yield statistically significantly greater balance performance in the high-threat virtual environment (median percentage of successful steps: 78.8%, 48.3%, and 55.2% in the real low-threat, virtual low-threat, and virtual high-threat environments, respectively). These results may be partially attributed to habituation to threat over time and practice. If implemented carefully, virtual reality technology can be an effective tool for investigating walking balance in environments that are perceived as threatening.