Testing the Vestibular Function Development in Junior Figure Skaters Using the Eye Tracking Technique

Virtual reality technologies are being widely adopted in the field of sport psychology. One of the advantages of this kind of technology is the possibility to assess sportsmen’ readiness to perform complex movements. The study is aimed at developing a method of vestibular function disturbances evaluation for young skaters. These disturbances may occur while skaters perform rotation movements. To achieve the goal we initiated the vection illusion which takes place during the process of virtual environment rotation in the CAVE virtual reality system. The test of vestibular dysfunction was performed by two groups – professional skaters and people who have very little experience as skaters or have no such experience at all. As a result we introduced a quantitative evaluation rate of vestibular dysfunction on basis of eye movement characteristics which are registered when the vection illusion takes place.