Locomotor circumvention strategies in response to static pedestrians in a virtual and physical environment

Bühler, Marco A.; Lamontagne, Anouk

doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.10.004

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Importantly, the fact that a maskinduced effect could be detected in this study adds further support to the use of VR as a valid tool to study movement behavior in the context of social interactions. In previous studies from our laboratory, and even though VR can introduce a distance perception bias (Renner et al, 2013), we have shown that obstacle avoidance behavior is essentially the same in response to virtual vs. real pedestrians, with similar onset distance values and slightly larger minimum distances in VR (Buhler & Lamontagne, 2018, 2019. It is thus reasonable to assume that the mask-induced changes observed in the present study do re ect a natural behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…All locomotor measures of obstacle circumvention, excluding maximum walking speed and xation on the head of the approaching VRP, differed signi cantly according to the direction from which the VRP approached. These variations in circumvention strategies for most have been previously observed 9,24,25,28 and appear to re ect adaptations according to the bearing angle 10 or whether the pedestrian passes in front of behind the VRP 12 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Extracting these measures under ecological yet safe and controlled conditions is very challenging. To address these limitations, virtual reality (VR) has been used extensively as an experimental tool and recent investigations have shown that it can yield locomotor responses during obstacle avoidance that are similar to those observed in the real world [23][24][25] . In the present study, which took place after the rst wave of the pandemic in Canada (July-September 2020), we used an immersive VR set-up allowing for gaze and body movement recording to examine the avoidance strategies adopted by healthy young individuals during interactions with virtual pedestrians (VRPs) with and without a facial mask.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Stay Out of the Blast Radius: Influence of Surgical Masks on Virtual Pedestrian Interactions

Bühler¹,

Lynch²,

Bhojwani³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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To combat the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, a series of mitigation strategies have been proposed by governments around the world. While responses varied across different governing bodies, recommendations such as social distancing and the use of facial masks were nearly universal. Considering that even with restrictions in place, walking in community environments remained an important component of everyday life, these public health recommendations, as well as the anxiety generated by the pandemic, are likely to have influenced pedestrian interactions. In this study, we have examined the effect of facial masks and anxiety related to community ambulation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using virtual reality, obstacle circumvention strategies in response to approaching pedestrians with and without facial masks were measured in a sample of 11 healthy young individuals. Additionally, a questionnaire was developed and used to gain insights into the participant's behaviours during and after a strict period of restrictions that were in effect before the summer of 2020. Results showed that participants maintained a larger obstacle clearance when virtual pedestrians wore a facial mask. The extent of obstacle clearance was also positively associated with anxiety towards community ambulation in the context of the pandemic. Our findings provide evidence that mask-wearing results in an increase in physical distancing during pedestrian interactions, which may help to reduce the risk of infection. Furthermore, results demonstrate the effects of social context and psychological status on pedestrian interactions and highlight the potential of virtual reality simulations to study locomotion in natural community settings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Stay Out of the Blast Radius: Influence of Surgical Masks on Virtual Pedestrian Interactions

Bühler¹,

Lynch²,

Bhojwani³

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Considering that participants were immersed in a virtual environment that simulated a shopping mall, without any sensory feedback from the real environment, they may have perceived virtual agent avoidance while walking as a real threatning condition. Previous study have provided evidence of the implementation of circumvention strategies in a virtual environment that are comparable to those in the physical environment [50]. The small differences observed in obstacle circumvention outcomes between environments were explained by the use of safer or more conservative strategies, therefore suggesting that participants did not feel completely stable and safe when avoiding obstacles in the virtual environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Virtual reality‐based assessment of cognitive‐locomotor interference in healthy young adults

Deblock-Bellamy

Lamontagne

McFadyen

et al. 2021

J NeuroEngineering Rehabil

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Background A recent literature review emphasized the importance of assessing dual-task (DT) abilities with tasks that are representative of community ambulation. Assessing DT ability in real-life activities using standardized protocols remains difficult. Virtual reality (VR) may represent an interesting alternative enabling the exposure to different scenarios simulating community walking. To better understand dual-task abilities in everyday life activities, the aims of this study were (1) to assess locomotor and cognitive dual-task cost (DTC) during representative daily living activities, using VR, in healthy adults; and 2) to explore the influence of the nature and complexity of locomotor and cognitive tasks on DTC. Methods Fifteen healthy young adults (24.9 ± 2.7 years old, 8 women) were recruited to walk in a virtual 100 m shopping mall corridor, while remembering a 5-item list (DT condition), using an omnidirectional platform and a VR headset. Two levels of difficulty were proposed for the locomotor task (with vs. without virtual agent avoidance) and for the cognitive task (with vs. without items modification). These tasks were also performed in single task (ST) condition. Locomotor and cognitive DTC were measured by comparing performances in ST and DT conditions. Locomotor performance was characterized using walking speed, walking fluidity, and minimal distance between the participant and the virtual agent during avoidance. Cognitive performance was assessed with the number of items correctly recalled. Presence of DTC were determined with one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. To explore the influence of the tasks’ complexity and nature on DTC, a nonparametric two-way repeated measure ANOVA was performed. Results No locomotor interference was measured for any of the outcomes. A cognitive DTC of 6.67% was measured (p = .017) while participants performed simultaneously both complex locomotor and cognitive tasks. A significant interaction between locomotor task complexity and cognitive task nature (p = .002) was identified on cognitive DTC. Conclusions In challenging locomotor and cognitive conditions, healthy young adults present DTC in cognitive accuracy, which was influenced by the locomotor task complexity task and the cognitive task nature. A similar VR-based protocol might be used to investigate DT abilities in older adults and individuals with a stroke.

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“…However, it is important to notice that the size of the PS in VR is slightly increased [13] due to distance underestimations [28]. Furthermore, research on interactions between walkers also showed that movements and gazing behaviors of individuals are comparable between VR and real-life [7,10]. Hence, VR-based experiments proved themselves to provide a valid assessment of the physical PS preferences [8,20].…”

Section: Interpersonal Distancementioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of a Virtual Agent's Non-Verbal Emotional Expression on a User's Personal Space Preferences

Bönsch

Radke

Ehret

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 20th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

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Virtual-reality-based interactions with virtual agents (VAs) are likely subject to similar influences as human-human interactions. In either real or virtual social interactions, interactants try to maintain their personal space (PS), an ubiquitous, situative, flexible safety zone. Building upon larger PS preferences to humans and VAs with angry facial expressions, we extend the investigations to whole-body emotional expressions. In two immersive settingsśHMD and CAVEś66 males were approached by an either happy, angry, or neutral male VA. Subjects preferred a larger PS to the angry VA when being able to stop him at their convenience (task), replicating previous findings, and when being able to actively avoid him (task). In the latter task, we also observed larger distances in the CAVE than in the HMD. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Virtual Reality; User studies.

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Locomotor circumvention strategies in response to static pedestrians in a virtual and physical environment

Cited by 20 publications

References 27 publications

Stay Out of the Blast Radius: Influence of Surgical Masks on Virtual Pedestrian Interactions

Stay Out of the Blast Radius: Influence of Surgical Masks on Virtual Pedestrian Interactions

Virtual reality‐based assessment of cognitive‐locomotor interference in healthy young adults

The Impact of a Virtual Agent's Non-Verbal Emotional Expression on a User's Personal Space Preferences

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