Assessing the Use of Cognitive Resources in Virtual Reality

Abstract. Due to system limitations, interactions in virtual environments are often unnatural and this may impact performance. During learning, unnatural interactions draw from a finite pool of cognitive resources, meaning that those resources cannot be used for a concurrent, possibly more important task. Because users typically have primary objectives to accomplish in the virtual world, we argue that interaction techniques and other system design choices should account for task compatibility. We use a dual-task paradigm to study resource usage during locomotion tasks varying in their similarity to real-world locomotion. In one experiment, unnatural locomotion interfaces required additional spatial resources compared to natural movements. Some participants used unique strategies unlikely in traditional dual-task studies, possibly due to the high level of immersion

Visual Servoing via Advanced Numerical Methods

A study was conducted to examine the impact, in terms of cognitive demands, of a restricted field of view (FOV) on semi-natural locomotion in virtual reality (VR). Participants were divided into two groups: high-FOV and low-FOV. They were asked to perform basic movements using a locomotion interface while simultaneously performing one of two memory tasks (spatial or verbal) or no memory task. The memory tasks were intended to simulate the competing demands when a user has primary tasks to perform while using an unnatural interface to move through the virtual world. Results show that participants remembered fewer spatial or verbal items when performing locomotion movements with a low FOV than with a high FOV. This equivalent verbal and spatial detriment may indicate that locomotion movements with a restricted FOV require additional general cognitive resources as opposed to spatial or verbal resource pools. This also emphasizes the importance of this research, as users of a system may allow primary task performance to suffer when performing locomotion. Movement start and completion times were also measured to examine resource requirements of specific aspects of movements. Understanding specific performance problems resulting from concurrent tasks can inform the design of systems