Perceiving Compliance in Virtual Reality: Effects of Interaction Direction and Sensory Discrepancy on Visuo-Haptic...

In Virtual Reality (VR), users judge object compliance by combining visually displayed deformation with physically delivered force, yet it remains unclear whether both modalities require equally high rendering fidelity across interaction conditions, particularly when rendering resources are limited. We investigated visuo-haptic weighting in compliance perception across interaction directions and visuo-haptic discrepancy magnitudes. Two discrepancy magnitudes were tested across three representative interaction directions: a smaller magnitude comparable to values commonly used in sensory-weighting studies and a larger magnitude that remained perceptually acceptable in VR. Under the larger discrepancy, visual influence was greater in vertical top-down interaction, whereas haptic influence was greater in front-back interaction, while side-to-side interaction showed more balanced weighting. Directional effects were minimal under the smaller discrepancy. Together, these findings suggest that compliance rendering in VR may benefit from accounting for interaction direction, rather than assuming a single uniform visuo-haptic balance across interaction conditions.