Comparison of spatial orientation skill between real and virtual environment

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a promising tool and is increasingly used in many different fields, in which virtual walking can be generalized through detailed modeling of the physical environment such as in sports science, medicine and furthermore. However, the visualization of a virtual environment using a head-mounted display (HMD) differs compared to reality, and it is still not clear whether the visual perception works equally within VR. The purpose of the current study is to compare the spatial orientation between real world (RW) and VR. Therefore, the participants had to walk blindfolded to different placed objects in a real and virtual environment, which did not differ in physical properties. They were equipped with passive markers to track the position of the back of their hand, which was used to specify each object’s location. The first task was to walk blindfolded from one starting position to different placed sport-specific objects requiring different degrees of rotation after observing them for 15 s (0°, 45°, 180°, and 225°). The three-way ANOVA with repeated measurements indicated no significant difference between RW and VR within the different degrees of rotation (p > 0.05). In addition, the participants were asked to walk blindfolded three times from a new starting position to two objects, which were ordered differently during the conditions. Except for one case, no significant differences in the pathways between RW and VR were found (p > 0.05). This study supports that the use of VR ensures similar behavior of the participants compared to real-world interactions and its authorization of use.

Reliability of the triangle completion test in the real-world and in virtual reality

“…Like Pastel et al (2022), we found the angle of the final turn had no effect on end point accuracy in a healthy young adult population. In comparison, Adamo et al (2012), Anson et al (2019), andCuturi et al (2021) who investigated wayfinding in children and older adults, found that the turning angle did influence accuracy, with a larger angle of turn leading to reduced end point accuracy.…”

“…Virtual reality (VR) has been proposed as a means of controlling visual cues during spatial navigation tests without eliminating them entirely (Adamo et al, 2012;Cogné et al, 2017;Dorado et al, 2019a,b;Commins et al, 2020;Biju et al, 2021;Pastel et al, 2022). Early virtual environments used conventional computer screens.…”

“…However, without the afferent proprioceptive and vestibular information usually acquired from motion, people typically demonstrate inferior performance on two-dimensional computer simulated tests (Adamo et al, 2012;Dorado et al, 2019b). Immersive three-dimensional virtual environments enable people to walk in a virtual environment and have shown advantages over evaluation in the real world (Biju et al, 2021;Pastel et al, 2022). An immersive virtual world enables uninhibited motion whilst simultaneously allowing the assessor precise environmental control of the visual scene.…”

“…This enables elaborate environments to be simulated and manipulated with ease (Cogné et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2019). However, there are also differences in the visual experience in VR and the real-world that may affect spatial navigation, and early simulated environments have been reported to cause motion sickness in some people (Kennedy et al, 1993;Park et al, 2006;Adamo et al, 2012;Harris et al, 2019;Oh and Son, 2022;Pastel et al, 2022).…”

From Patient to Musician: A Multi-Sensory Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Tool for Spatial Neglect

“…Nevertheless, a large portion of these side effects can be managed by taking appropriate precautions, such as excluding patients prone to motion sickness and following post-immersion procedures [72]. Second, there are studies investigating the spatial perception of distance [73,74] and orientation [75] in VR environments. These studies have found that subjects perceive distances differently in VR than in real life, while the perception of orientation remains the same in VR.…”