Haptic pleasantness, naturalness, and complexity, of geometric raised line drawings

In vision, stimulus pleasantness has been shown to relate to complexity following an inverted U-curve or a linear relationship. At the same time, geometric patterns that are more associated with nature are found to be perceived as more pleasant. However, little is known about how pleasantness relates to naturalness and complexity of tactile geometric patterns. Therefore, we investigated whether haptic pleasantness depends on complexity, and naturalness of a geometric pattern. Because exploratory hand movements have been shown to depend on the haptic property to be extracted and can depend on complexity we also recorded hand movements. We examined the influence of perceived naturalness and complexity on movement speed

Immersive scenes with Radiance in a Virtual Reality Headset: comparison of virtual and real environments

This presentation introduced a novel method for creating immersive scenes for Virtual Reality based on physically-based renderings and discussed the potential and limitation of this method

Virtual reality to assess visual attraction and perceived interest to daylit scene variations

Façades and light pattern composition have been shown to influence the spatial experience and physiological responses of humans [1,2]. The present study examines the effect of sunlight penetration and window size on fixations to the floor of the scene, and the relation between visual interest and fixations in an experiment using 360° scenes displayed in Virtual Reality. One hundred participants were shown the same daylit interior space with varying presence of sun patches (based on sky type and time-of-day variations) and window size in a mixed experimental design. Participants' head movements were recorded during the first 25 seconds of silent free-viewing exposure to each scene, after which they rated the visual interest of the scene. Fixation areas were derived from head movement data and were used to extract the percentage of fixations towards different areas in the scene. Linear Mixed Model (LMM) analyses showed that sun patch presence influenced the percentage of fixations towards both the front part of the floor (near the façade) and the whole floor. Pairwise comparisons showed that participants spent more time fixating towards the floor in the presence of small sun patch compared to no sun patch. Adding visual interest as a fixed factor in the LMM did not show a statistically significant relation between fixations towards the floor and visual interest ratings. Although limited to Virtual Reality and thus to its relatively small luminance range, these findings show that the presence of a sun patch in one's field of view elicits visual attraction

Daylight patterns as a means to influence the spatial ambiance: a preliminary study

This contribution focuses on perforated façades, investigating the effect of the façade and the resulting daylight pattern on the perceived spatial ambiance. The daylight conditions, as well as the geometry and regularity of the façade pattern are manipulated in an immersive virtual space, producing different conditions. A preliminary study was conducted, where subjective evaluations of the virtual space were recorded across six variations of façade pattern and sky type. The results indicate that the façade pattern characteristics have an impact on the perceived spatial ambiance, underlining the need to investigate further the perceptual aspect of the spatial and temporal diversity of light in space through experimental studies

Façade design and our experience of space: the joint impact of architecture and daylight on human perception and physiological responses

Daylight has an undeniable value in various aspects of architectural design, ranging from energy efficiency and user comfort to our experience of space. Even though there is substantial evidence of the positive effects of daylight access on occupants, we have limited knowledge on how the façade geometry and the spatial composition of the resulting sunlight patterns in a space affect its occupants. Could a simple change of the façade change the way we perceive a space? Could it trigger different physiological reactions? This presentation investigates the intuition of architects on how façade geometry can impact occupant perception, and compares these insights with experimental findings on subjective and physiological responses to façade and sunlight pattern variations in virtual reality

Using Virtual Reality to investigate the experience of daylit spaces

This poster introduces the methodology and main findings to date in Kynthia Chamilothori's PhD thesis, regarding the use of virtual reality as a substitute for experiments in the real space, and the investigation of how facade characteristics influence the perception of a daylit space

Adequacy of Immersive Virtual Reality for the Perception of Daylit Spaces: Comparison of Real and Virtual Environments

This article presents a novel experimental method that uses a virtual reality (VR) headset, aiming to provide an alternative environment for the conduction of subjective assessments of daylit spaces. This method can overcome the difficulty of controlling the variation of luminous conditions, one of the main challenges in experimental studies using daylight, and its novelty lies in the implementation of physically based renderings into an immersive virtual environment. The present work investigates the adequacy of the proposed method to evaluate five aspects of subjective perception of daylit spaces: the perceived pleasantness, interest, excitement, complexity, and satisfaction with the amount of view in the space. To this end, experiments with 29 participants were conducted to compare users’ perceptions of a real daylit environment and its equivalent representation in VR and test the effect of the display method on the participants’ perceptual evaluations, reported physical symptoms, and perceived presence in the virtual space. The results indicate a high level of perceptual accuracy, showing no significant differences between the real and virtual environments on the studied evaluations. In addition, there was a high level of perceived presence in the virtual environment and no significant effects on the participants’ physical symptoms after the use of the VR headset. Following these findings, the presented experimental method in VR seems very promising for use as a surrogate to real environments in investigating the aforementioned five dimensions of perception in daylit spaces

Methods for using immersive virtual reality for experimental studies in lighting research

Due to the growing popularity of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for conducting subjective experiments, we propose a session addressing methodological concerns and good practices for the use of VR in lighting research, going further than a simple demonstration of immersive scenes. In view of the emergence of this technology as an experimental tool in lighting studies, it is important to document and establish a reference workflow, introducing potential pitfalls and suggested practices to obtain reliable data. This presentation will introduce the key elements for the design and conduction of experimental studies using VR -ranging from the creation of the immersive scenes to the particularities of collecting data when the participants are immersed in a virtual environment-, coupled with demonstrations through a virtual reality headset