Orientation Perception in Real and Virtual Environments.

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality
• Spatial Cognition

Background:

• Spatial perception research often prioritizes distance, neglecting orientation.
• Understanding orientation perception is crucial for effective virtual environment (VE) design.
• Existing research highlights biases in 2D displays, but their presence in immersive VEs is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate allocentric orientation judgments in real and virtual environments.
• To determine if known 2D display biases persist in immersive virtual reality.
• To explore potential multiple strategies in human orientation processing.

Main Methods:

• Four experiments were conducted comparing real-world and virtual reality (VR) settings.
• Participants made allocentric orientation judgments.
• Two different judgment methods were employed in the real-world condition.

Main Results:

• A sinusoidal pattern of judgment errors, previously observed in 2D displays, was found in immersive VR.
• This error pattern also appeared in real-world judgments, indicating a radial anisotropy.
• Evidence suggests observers may utilize multiple orientation processing strategies.

Conclusions:

• A radial anisotropy in spatial orientation perception is a robust phenomenon, transcending real and virtual contexts.
• Findings have implications for designing user interfaces in 3D environments, particularly for orientation tasks.
• Further research is needed to fully characterize the observed orientation processing strategies.