Abstract
Compelling simulated motion in virtual environments can induce the sensation of self motion (or vection) in stationary observers. While the usefulness and functional significance of vection is still debated, the literature has shown that perceived magnitude of vection is lower when observers perform attentionally demanding cognitive tasks than when attentional demands are absent. Could simulated motion and the resulting vection experienced in virtual environments in turn affect how observers perform various attention demanding tasks? In this study therefore, we investigated how accurately and rapidly observers could perform attention-demanding aural and visual tasks while experiencing levels of vection-inducing motion in a virtual environment. Seventeen adult observers were exposed to different levels of simulated motion at virtual camera speeds of 0 (stationary), 5, 10 and 15 m/s in a straight virtual corridor rendered through a Vive-Pro Virtual Reality headset. During these simulations, they performed aural or visual discrimination tasks, or no task at all. We recorded the accuracy, the time observers took to respond to each task, and the intensity of vection they reported. Repeated Measures ANOVA showed that levels of simulated motion did not significantly affect accuracy on either task (F(3,48) = 1.469, p = .235 aural; F(3,48) = 1.504, p = .226 visual), but significantly affected the response times on aural tasks (F(3,48) = 4.320, p = .009 aural; F(3,48) = 0.916, p = .440 visual). Observers generally perceived less vection at all levels of motion when they performed visual discrimination tasks compared to when they had no task to perform (F(2,32) = 13.784, p = .038). This suggests that perceived intensities of vection are significantly reduced when people perform attentionally demanding tasks related to visual processing. Conversely, vection intensity or simulated motion speed can affect performance on aural tasks.