Abstract:
This study seeks to introduce a novel experimental environment in which human participants carry out a paid task and experience an impairment in functioning. The main objectives are to assess the accuracy of participant self-reports of the impairment and the responsiveness of effort to different levels of impairment. A desktop virtual reality environment was developed using Unity game engine. 80 participants were recruited from the McMaster Decision Science Lab and, following a short instructional video, were tasked with delivering virtual crates using a Logitech gamepad over six rounds, each lasting four minutes. Payment was at a piece rate of $0.50 per crate. Effort consisted of clicking a single button which increased walking speed. Impairment had a direct impact on walking speed, and therefore earnings, and is independent of effort. Two treatments vary the sequence of three impairment levels. At the end of each round participants were asked to record their level of mobility. Self reported mobility was overall quite close the actual level of impairment, but some interesting observations are noted. When moving from severe impairment to moderate impairment, there was a tendency to perceive this improvement as better than true in both treatments. For a profit maximizing participant, effort is expected to remain constant throughout the experiment, yet most participants appear to attempt to compensate by exerting more effort as impairment worsens. The experimental environment offers the potential to investigate a range of novel behaviours that would be difficult to realistically assess using other methods. Extensions of the environment will be discussed.
