Effects of calibration to visual and haptic feedback on near-field depth perception in an immersive virtual environment

Abstract

Distances are regularly underestimated in immersive virtual environments (IVEs) [Witmer and Kline 1998; Loomis and Knapp 2003]. Few experiments, however, have examined the ability of calibration to overcome distortions of depth perception in IVEs. This experiment is designed to examine the effect of calibration via haptic and visual feedback on distance estimates in an IVE. Participants provided verbal and physical reach responses to target distances presented during three sessions; a baseline measure without feedback, a calibration session with visual and haptic feedback, and finally a post-calibration session without feedback. Feedback was shown to calibrate distance estimates within an IVE. Discussion focused on the possibility that costly solutions and research endeavors seeking to remedy the compression of distances may become less necessary if users are simply given the opportunity to use manual activity to calibrate to the IVE.