Frontal extents in virtual environments are not immune to underperception

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Perception Psychology
• Virtual Reality

Background:

• Virtual environments (VEs) frequently lead to underestimation of perceived distances compared to real-world judgments.
• Previous research suggested accurate perception of frontal extents in VEs, contrasting with underperception of depth extents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the hypothesis that accurate frontal extent judgments in VEs are a result of balanced perceptual errors.
• To re-evaluate the perception of frontal versus depth extents in different virtual environments.

Main Methods:

• Participants judged frontal and depth extents in two virtual environments: a detailed classroom and a sparse grass ground plane.
• The study compared judgments in these VEs to findings from prior research on distance perception in virtual reality.

Main Results:

• Judgments in the classroom VE replicated previous findings of underperceived depth extents but accurate frontal extents.
• However, judgments in the sparser grass VE revealed underperception for both depth and frontal extents.
• This indicates that frontal extents are susceptible to underestimation in virtual environments.

Conclusions:

• The perception of frontal extents is not inherently accurate in virtual environments and can be underestimated.
• The underestimation of distance in VEs generalizes to both depth and frontal planes, depending on the virtual environment's characteristics.