Abstract
The rotating drum is a classic apparatus used to study circular vection – the visually induced illusion of self-rotation in a stationary observer. The observer sits in a large cylinder that has an illuminated interior, consisting of black and white vertical stripes that occupy the entire visual field. The drum and hence the stripes can rotate and make the seated observer feel that s/he is rotating in the direction opposite to the motion of the stripes. Advances in head-mounted display (HMD) technology have allowed researchers to induce vection using HMDs. For the first time, our group has replicated the rotating drum in a virtual reality HMD environment. We manipulated the simulated speed of the rotating drum, and recorded participant vection perception. Vection was measured and recorded by having participants rotate a circular knob capable of spinning infinitely in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, while viewing the moving stripe pattern within the HMD. Participants were instructed to monitor their sensation of rotary vection and turn the knob in the direction opposite to their perceived self-rotation. Knob rotation speeds and rotation times are recorded and used to indicate vection strength. Knob rotation methods have been used in previous research to measure vection, however ours is a unique alteration in that 1)the rotation of the knob does not control the visual display 2)participants turn the knob in the direction opposite to their perceived self-rotation. Our method is proving to be direct and informative for measuring circular vection. Data suggest that 1)the HMD is capable of inducing vection, similarly to the classic rotating drum apparatus 2)vection strength varies as a function of the simulated rotation speed of the visual display. This study further validates the use of HMDs for studying self-motion as it has allowed us to integrate a classically used apparatus within an HMD.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016