Epilogue 6 119 scenarios can be low in complexity by designing an environment low in external stimulation, consisting of few NPCs. The scenarios can, from trial to trial, increase in complexity by adding additional NPCs, determining more complex NPC behavior, and adjusting environmental conditions (e.g., from daylight to nighttime). Taken together, VR training inherently places additional cognitive load on trainees by being a medium through which an environment is perceived. Yet, VR training also provides various opportunities to manage cognitive load and improve learning that real-life training does not. This thesis showed that VR elicits high levels of cognitive load and draws theoretical implications from CLT for the application of VR in practice. Yet, an additional benefit of VR is that it provides a suitable tool to empirically test postulates of various theories in a very precise way. Due to the ability to systematically, yet naturalistically (i.e., with high context-dependency) manipulate variables and control for constraints, VR can be employed to investigate theoretical presumptions. For instance, in VR, the different types of loads (i.e., intrinsic, germane, or extraneous load) can be manipulated to investigate how to effectively increase learning in VR based on CLT. Similarly, environmental constraints can be manipulated in VR to test which VR features effectively enhance representativeness of the virtual environment and which features hamper the learning experience of trainees. Other than in a reductionistic lab-based experiment, VR provides a tool that allows for reality-based experimentation including complex learning in realistic contexts with systematic manipulation of features. Theoretical implications beyond the context of police training The aforementioned theoretical models (i.e., the integrated model of perceptual-motor performance and anxiety, representative learning design, and cognitive load theory), in particular, have informed the research design of the studies in this thesis. Based on its findings, this thesis has demonstrated how the results can further inform the theories presented above. In addition, however, the findings of this thesis for the implementation and application of VR training for police officers also contain other theoretical implications: First, the development of evidence-based standards for the implementation and application of VR training for police officers can contribute to the advancement of instructional design (e.g., the use of the After-Action Review in Chapter 5) and learning theories. This can further enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of VR training and improve the overall training practices in domains such as military, emergency medicine, and first responders. Second, the investigation of the sense of presence experienced by police officers during VR training (Chapter 3 and Chapter 4) can provide insights into the mechanisms underlying the
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