Assessing Personality Traits of Team Athletes in Virtual Reality

Wirth M, Gradl S, Mehringer W, Kulpa R, Rupprecht H, Poimann D, Laudanski AF, Eskofier B (2020)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2020

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Pages Range: 101-108

Conference Proceedings Title: Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VRW 2020

Event location: Atlanta, GA US

ISBN: 9781728165325

DOI: 10.1109/VRW50115.2020.00024

Abstract

Assessment of personality traits is highly relevant in team sports in order to analyze the performance of an athlete under pressure when in competitive situations, for team-strategic decisions, to optimize command transmission, and ultimately to understand top-level performers. It further facilitates the development and application of personalized exercises, coaching to improve performance in competition, and can be considered a valuable criterion for talent scouting and development. The current state of the art method to assess personality traits in sports relies on validated questionnaires. However, these often provide non-sport-specific, subjective self-reported information and lack the ability to measure how these characteristics are reflected in context-based performance.We developed a virtual reality (VR) tool for the assessment of personality traits in team sports, in our case for soccer. An evaluation of this tool within a study with 24 subjects yielded a benchmark of its immersion through user experience and provided an objective description of athletes' personalities based on performance indicators extracted from activity-tracking. Within the tool, we implemented two realistic virtual soccer environments to assess the motivational orientation of soccer players (i.e. action-and state-orientation) which we discerned from the gold standard questionnaire.Results show that user experience and presence of the implemented virtual environments scored significantly higher compared to benchmark measurements. Additionally, a significant difference between the two groups of action and state-oriented athletes could be observed. Measures of failure rate, pass accuracy, number of perceived opponents, and achieved bonus goals are parameters that differ significantly among the two athlete groups. These findings show that VR technology is applicable for the assessment of athletes' motivational orientation and thus demonstrate the feasibility of virtual environments as functional game scenario-based assessment tools for athletes.

Authors with CRIS profile

Markus Wirth Lehrstuhl für Informatik 14 (Machine Learning and Data Analytics) Stefan Gradl-Trautvetter Lehrstuhl für Informatik 14 (Machine Learning and Data Analytics) Wolfgang Mehringer Lehrstuhl für Informatik 14 (Machine Learning and Data Analytics) Björn Eskofier Lehrstuhl für Informatik 14 (Machine Learning and Data Analytics)

Additional Organisation(s)

Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab

Involved external institutions

University of Waterloo (UW) CA Canada (CA) Université de Rennes 2 FR France (FR) FC Red Bull Salzburg AT Austria (AT)

How to cite

APA:

Wirth, M., Gradl, S., Mehringer, W., Kulpa, R., Rupprecht, H., Poimann, D.,... Eskofier, B. (2020). Assessing Personality Traits of Team Athletes in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings - 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VRW 2020 (pp. 101-108). Atlanta, GA, US: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Wirth, Markus, et al. "Assessing Personality Traits of Team Athletes in Virtual Reality." Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VRW 2020, Atlanta, GA Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2020. 101-108.

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