What an immersive OT activity looks like

An immersive activity is a task presented through virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality. Instead of responding only to material on paper or a flat screen, the person can look around, locate objects, reach, select, organise, sequence, and respond within a three-dimensional scene.

The purpose can still be straightforward. A person might make a cup of tea in a virtual kitchen, find items needed for a familiar routine, sort objects according to a rule, or remember and collect several targets from different parts of a room.

What makes the activity useful is not simply that it happens in a headset. It is that you can choose a purposeful task, control its demands, observe how the person carries it out, and return to specific moments afterwards.

Worked example: making a cup of tea

In a virtual tea-making activity, the person works through the task step by step. They identify what they need, find the kettle, fill it, switch it on, locate a mug and teabag, and complete the remaining actions in a workable order.

The goal is familiar and easy to explain, but performance draws on several processes at once:

  • understanding and retaining the overall goal
  • searching the scene for relevant objects
  • recognising objects and their purpose
  • planning and maintaining the sequence
  • shifting attention between objects and actions
  • noticing omissions or actions completed out of order
  • responding to verbal or visual prompts
  • using the controllers to select and manipulate objects

As the person works, you can observe where they begin, how they scan the kitchen, whether they return repeatedly to the same area, which objects they choose, where the sequence breaks down, and what kind of cue helps them continue.

The activity record can add time on task, errors, prompts, retries, object interactions, and elements of the person’s scan pattern. These do not explain performance by themselves. They help you revisit what happened alongside your own observations and the person’s account of the experience.

Why use an immersive version of an everyday task?

Making tea in a headset is not intended to be better than making tea in a real kitchen. Direct observation and practice in the person’s usual environment may be essential when you need to understand real-world occupational performance.

The immersive version offers a controlled and repeatable way to explore selected parts of the task. You can change the visual clutter, object positions, number of steps, prompts, or scene complexity, then repeat the activity without resetting a physical kitchen.

It may be useful when you want to:

  • concentrate on visual search or sequencing
  • compare performance after one element has been changed
  • repeat a task using a consistent arrangement
  • create concrete material for feedback and discussion

The virtual and real versions can complement one another. Immersive activity may help you form a more specific question for real-world observation, while performance in the person’s own environment provides context that the virtual task cannot reproduce.

What spatial activity can reveal

A spatial task asks more of visual exploration than a single page or tablet screen. Relevant information may be above, below, beside, or behind the person’s initial viewpoint. They may need to turn their head, move attention between areas, compare object locations, or coordinate looking and reaching.

You might notice:

  • whether scanning is broad or restricted to one part of the scene
  • whether the person searches systematically or moves between areas without a clear pattern
  • how readily they locate an object away from the centre of view
  • whether additional objects make the relevant target harder to find

Headset and controller information can make parts of that process visible during review. It is task information, not a stand-alone assessment.

Grade one demand at a time

Changing several things together makes performance harder to interpret. Begin with the demand most relevant to the session and keep the rest manageable.

For a visual-search focus, you could vary:

  • the number and location of target objects
  • the amount of visual competition
  • similarity between targets and distractors or the width of the search area
  • whether the person is told exactly what to find

For sequencing or planning, you could vary:

  • the number of steps
  • whether instructions remain visible
  • familiarity of the sequence and the availability of prompts
  • whether an error can be recognised and corrected

You can also change the interaction itself. Seated use, a shorter reach, fewer controller actions, a slower pace, or a brief first attempt may make the activity more accessible without removing its purpose.

More immersive activity examples

Find objects in an everyday scene

Ask the person to locate named items in a familiar setting. This can bring visual search, sustained attention, object recognition, working memory, and search strategy into the activity. Change the layout, distractors, target number, or instructions to alter the demand.

Sort objects by use or rule

Ask the person to group objects by function, location, colour, shape, or another rule. Observe how the rule is understood and maintained, whether they check their choices, and what happens when it changes.

Remember and collect

Show or name a short set of objects, then ask the person to find them around the scene. Vary the targets, delay, visual similarity, or whether the list remains available. This combines memory with active visual search.

Follow a familiar routine

A handwashing or toothbrushing sequence can be broken into clear actions. You can explore initiation, step order, omissions, object use, and response to prompts while keeping the goal recognisable.

Plan the activity around a session question

Before putting on the headset, decide what you want to explore. The question should be specific enough to shape the activity but open enough to leave room for observation.

For example:

  • How does the person search when targets are spread across a wider space?
  • Which part of a familiar sequence is hardest to maintain?
  • What happens after a general cue compared with a direct instruction?
  • What changes when the same activity is repeated?

Choose the shortest activity that can help you explore the question. Explain the goal plainly, agree how the person can pause or stop, and check whether seated or standing use is appropriate. Afterwards, ask what the activity felt like from inside the headset.

Use the review to return to specific moments

Completion is only one part of the activity. Review the process: where the person looked first, an object they passed several times, a step completed out of order, a prompt that helped, or a strategy that emerged on repetition.

Depending on the activity, you may be able to review:

  • time spent on the task or an individual step
  • completed, missed, repeated, or out-of-order actions
  • object selections and interactions
  • prompts and the response that followed
  • errors and self-corrections
  • pauses, retries, and changes of approach
  • elements of visual scanning across the scene

This can support discussion with the person and, where appropriate, provide clearer examples for families, case managers, or referrers. It gains meaning through your interpretation and the wider context of the person’s goals and everyday performance.

When an immersive activity may not be the right choice

The headset should earn its place in the session. A paper, tabletop, screen-based, or real-world task may be more appropriate when it answers the same question more simply or gives you the context you need.

Consider comfort, vision, hearing, balance, fatigue, communication, cognition, movement, controller familiarity, and the person’s preferences. Begin briefly when someone is new to immersive technology. Make sure they know how to stop, and end the activity if they become dizzy, distressed, unusually fatigued, confused, or unsafe.

Immersive activity is one source of information. It does not replace observation of the person in their own environment, discussion of what matters to them, or your professional reasoning.

How CorteXR Studio supports therapist-led use

CorteXR Studio provides a library of adult VR and AR activities for supervised sessions. Activities include visual search, attention, memory, sorting, sequencing, object use, planning, everyday simulations, and short games with defined task demands.

You choose the activity and its settings, supervise the session, decide when to prompt or pause, and interpret what happened. Review material can include completion, time on task, prompts, retries, errors, object interactions, and, where available, elements of scan and interaction patterns captured through the headset and controllers.

The Studio activity library shows concrete examples and the purpose of each task. Headset preparation, onboarding, and support can be discussed during a walkthrough.

FAQ

How long should a first immersive OT activity last?

There is no single suitable duration. A brief activity is usually the clearest starting point because it lets you check comfort, understanding, controller use, and response to the task before increasing complexity or duration.

Does the client need experience with VR?

No previous experience is required for a simple introductory activity. Allow time to explain the headset and controllers, begin with an obvious goal, and avoid making the first task unnecessarily complex.

Do immersive activities replace real-world occupational performance?

No. They provide controlled, repeatable activity material. Real-world observation and practice remain important whenever you need to understand performance in the person’s actual environment.

Explore CorteXR Studio

See the activities available in Studio, what each task asks the person to do, and the information you can bring into review.

Explore the Studio activity library Book a Studio walkthrough

Studio note: CorteXR Studio is non-medical activity software for therapist-led sessions. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, monitor, prevent, or alleviate any disease, injury, or impairment.

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