Comparison of Two Methods for Improving Distance Perception in Virtual Reality

Distance is commonly underperceived in virtual environments (VEs) compared to real environments. Past work suggests that displaying a replica VE based on the real surrounding environment leads to more accurate judgments of distance, but that work has lacked the necessary control conditions to firmly make this conclusion. Other research indicates that walking through a VE with visual feedback improves judgments of distance and size. This study evaluated and compared those two methods for improving perceived distance in VEs. All participants experienced a replica VE based on the real lab. In one condition, participants visually previewed the real lab prior to experiencing the replica VE, and in another condition they did not. Participants performed blind-walking judgments of distance and also judgments of size in the replica VE before and after walking interaction. Distance judgments were more accurate in the preview compared to no preview condition, but size judgments were unaffected by visual preview. Distance judgments and size judgments increased after walking interaction, and the improvement was larger for distance than for size judgments. After walking interaction, distance judgments did not differ based on visual preview, and walking interaction led to a larger improvement in judged distance than did visual preview. These data suggest that walking interaction may be more effective than visual preview as a method for improving perceived space in a VE

Social reminiscing: A potential protective factor for externalizing outcomes

Identification of protective factors for externalizing outcomes such as aggression and alcohol-related consequences serves to inform prevention and intervention programs. Prior research has demonstrated that social reminiscing might serve a protective function for externalizing outcomes in childhood, theorized to function through reduced emotion dysregulation and increased autobiographical memory specificity. However, research has not yet examined these relationships among emerging adults. The present study examined whether social reminiscing was associated with fewer externalizing outcomes among emerging adults including aggression and alcohol-related consequences, as mediated by emotion dysregulation and autobiographical memory specificity. Undergraduate students (N = 404) attending a predominantly White, Midwestern university completed an online autobiographical memory task and self-report survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that more social reminiscing was directly related to less emotion dysregulation and indirectly related to less reactive aggression, proactive aggression, and alcohol-related consequences as mediated by emotion dysregulation. Additional exploratory SEM accounting for posttraumatic stress symptoms in response to the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that more social reminiscing was directly related to less emotion dysregulation and indirectly related to less reactive aggression as mediated by emotion dysregulation, but social reminiscing was not related to proactive aggression or alcohol-related consequences. With and without accounting for posttraumatic stress, autobiographical memory specificity was not related to social reminiscing, emotion dysregulation, reactive aggression, proactive aggression, or alcohol-related consequences. The present results provide initial support for social reminiscing as a protective factor for emotion dysregulation, and consequently, externalizing outcomes such as aggression and alcohol-related consequences among emerging adults. Though, posttraumatic stress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic complicates these relationships. Future research should examine whether targeting social reminiscing decreases emotion dysregulation and externalizing outcomes. Further, future research should consider the impact of posttraumatic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic on relationships between social reminiscing, emotion dysregulation, and externalizing outcomes

Visual stabilization of balance in virtual reality using the HTC Vive

Vision in real environments stabilizes balance compared to an eyes closed condition. For virtual reality to be safe and fully effective in applications such as physical rehabilitation, vision in virtual reality should stabilize balance as much as vision in the real world. Older virtual reality technology was previously found to stabilize balance, but by less than half as much as real world vision. Recent advancements in display technology might allow for vision in virtual reality to be as stabilizing as vision in the real world. This study evaluated whether viewing a virtual environment through the HTC Vive -a new consumer-grade head mounted display- stabilizes balance, and whether visual stabilization is similar to that provided by real world vision. Participants viewed the real laboratory or a virtual replica of the laboratory and attempted to maintain an unstable stance with eyes open or closed while standing at one of two viewing distances. Vision was significantly stabilizing in all conditions, but the virtual environment provided less visual stabilization than did the real environment. Regardless of the environment, near viewing led to greater visual stabilization than did far viewing. The smaller stabilizing influence of viewing a virtual compared to real environment might lead to greater risk of falls in virtual reality and smaller gains in physical rehabilitation using virtual reality.This accepted article is published as Jonathan W. Kelly, Brenna C. Klesel, and Lucia A. Cherep. 2019. Visual stabilization of balance in virtual reality using the HTC Vive. ACM Trans. Appl. Percept. X, X, Article 1 (January 2019), 11 pages. Posted with permission.</p

Comparison of Two Methods for Improving Distance Perception in Virtual Reality

Distance is commonly underperceived in virtual environments (VEs) compared to real environments. Past work suggests that displaying a replica VE based on the real surrounding environment leads to more accurate judgments of distance, but that work has lacked the necessary control conditions to firmly make this conclusion. Other research indicates that walking through a VE with visual feedback improves judgments of distance and size. This study evaluated and compared those two methods for improving perceived distance in VEs. All participants experienced a replica VE based on the real lab. In one condition, participants visually previewed the real lab prior to experiencing the replica VE, and in another condition they did not. Participants performed blind-walking judgments of distance and also judgments of size in the replica VE before and after walking interaction. Distance judgments were more accurate in the preview compared to no preview condition, but size judgments were unaffected by visual preview. Distance judgments and size judgments increased after walking interaction, and the improvement was larger for distance than for size judgments. After walking interaction, distance judgments did not differ based on visual preview, and walking interaction led to a larger improvement in judged distance than did visual preview. These data suggest that walking interaction may be more effective than visual preview as a method for improving perceived space in a VE.This article is published as Jonathan W. Kelly, Lucia A. Cherep, Brenna Klesel, Zachary D. Siegel, and Seth George. 2018. Comparison of Two Methods for Improving Distance Perception in Virtual Reality. ACM Trans. Appl. Percept. 15, 2, Article 11 (March 2018), 11 pages. doi: 10.1145/3165285. Posted with permission.</p