Abstract
The peculiar experience of virtual reality (VR) is that you are in one real location while your vision is browsing another virtual scene. It is still unknown whether the virtual scene alone, or both the virtual scene and the real location determine the perception in the VR. In this study we investigated the distance perception in different virtual scenes and real locations. Two virtual scenes replicated a real indoor hall and a real outdoor pathway, respectively. Those two scenes were displayed by the HTC vive VR headset in this study. The virtual scenes did not replicate all the details of the real locations, but the sizes of the spatial layouts were identical. The first experiment was carried out in our lab room, where observers were asked to perform a bisection task and an L-shape matching task in the two virtual scenes. Results showed that the performances of both the tasks were different in the two scenes. It demonstrated that the distance perception was affected by the layout of the virtual scene. The second experiment was carried out in the real hall and on the real pathway, one after another. At each location, observers performed a blind-walking task to a pre-showed target presented in two virtual scenes. Results showed that not only the virtual scene, but also the real location affected the egocentric distance perception. That is, when the observers were outdoor on the pathway, the judged distance was further away than the judgment made in the hall, even though the task was irrelevant to the real locations. To summarize, the distance perception in the VR was determined by both the real location that you are in and the virtual scene that you are browsing.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018