TY - GEN
T1 - A full-body avatar improves egocentric distance judgments in an immersive virtual environment
AU - Mohler, Betty J.
AU - Bülthoff, Heinrich H.
AU - Thompson, William B.
AU - Creem-Regehr, Sarah H.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - A number of investigators have reported that distance judgments in virtual environments (VEs) are systematically smaller than distance judgments made in comparably-sized real environments. Many variables that may contribute to this difference have been investigated but none of them fully explain the distance compression. In this paper we asked whether seeing a fully-articulated visual representation of oneself (avatar) within a virtual environment would lead to more accurate estimations of distance. We found that participants who explored near space without the visual avatar underestimated egocentric distance judgments compared to those who similarly explored near space while viewing a fully-articulated avatar. These results are discussed with respect to the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that may be involved in the observed effects as well as the benefits of visual feedback in the form of an avatar for VE applications.
AB - A number of investigators have reported that distance judgments in virtual environments (VEs) are systematically smaller than distance judgments made in comparably-sized real environments. Many variables that may contribute to this difference have been investigated but none of them fully explain the distance compression. In this paper we asked whether seeing a fully-articulated visual representation of oneself (avatar) within a virtual environment would lead to more accurate estimations of distance. We found that participants who explored near space without the visual avatar underestimated egocentric distance judgments compared to those who similarly explored near space while viewing a fully-articulated avatar. These results are discussed with respect to the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that may be involved in the observed effects as well as the benefits of visual feedback in the form of an avatar for VE applications.
KW - Avatars
KW - Spatial perception
KW - Virtual environments
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=63449086363&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/1394281.1394323
DO - 10.1145/1394281.1394323
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:63449086363
SN - 9781595939814
T3 - APGV 2008 - Proceedings of the Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization
SP - 194
EP - 197
BT - APGV 2008 - Proceedings of the Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization
T2 - Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization, APGV 2008
Y2 - 9 August 2008 through 10 August 2008
ER -