Spatial cognitive implications of teleporting through virtual environments

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Teleporting is a common virtual reality (VR) locomotion technique enabling exploration of large virtual environments.
• This method lacks self-motion cues, potentially impacting spatial cognition.
• Understanding these spatial consequences is crucial for effective VR design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the spatial cognitive costs of different teleporting interfaces in VR.
• To identify environmental cues that can reduce these costs.
• To compare teleporting with physical walking for spatial navigation.

Main Methods:

• Five experiments were conducted using a triangle completion task.
• Participants navigated using walking, partially concordant teleporting (body turns, teleport translates), or discordant teleporting (teleport translates and rotates).
• The impact of geometric boundaries and landmarks on spatial accuracy was assessed.

Main Results:

• Discordant teleporting led to greater spatial errors than partially concordant teleporting.
• Both teleporting methods resulted in larger errors compared to walking.
• Geometric boundaries were necessary to mitigate spatial costs; landmarks were only effective with boundaries present.

Conclusions:

• Self-motion cues, both translational and rotational, are vital for accurate spatial cognition in VR.
• Discordant teleporting significantly impairs spatial awareness.
• Implementing geometric boundaries in VR environments is critical for mitigating teleporting's negative spatial effects.