Behavioral indications of object-presence in haptic virtual environments

Area of Science:

• Virtual Environment (VE) technology
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Haptic feedback systems

Background:

• Virtual environment (VE) applications require a sense of presence for user engagement.
• Presence in non-immersive VE, or object-presence, is the sense of touching and manipulating virtual objects.
• Object-presence is typically measured via questionnaires, lacking objective behavioral indicators.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify objective behavioral indications of object-presence in non-immersive haptic virtual environments.
• To differentiate behavioral responses between interacting with a virtual object with contextual relevance and a non-contextual virtual object.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed a task involving moving a stylus along virtual lines.
• Two conditions were tested: virtual razor blades and identical virtual lines without context.
• Haptic feedback was provided in both conditions, and stylus movement speed and force were measured.

Main Results:

• Participants moved the stylus slower in the virtual razor condition compared to the simple lines condition.
• Reduced force exerted on the stylus was observed in the virtual razor condition.
• This suggests a behavioral pattern indicative of an object-presence illusion.

Conclusions:

• Slower movements and reduced force indicate an object-presence illusion in haptic virtual environments.
• This behavioral pattern suggests users act more cautiously to avoid potential harm from virtual objects.
• Objective behavioral measures can complement subjective questionnaires for assessing object-presence.