Testing the mechanisms underlying improved distance judgments in virtual environments.

Abstract

Virtual environments (VEs) presented via head-mounted displays are typically perceived as smaller in scale than intended. Visual-motor experience in VEs can reduce this underestimation of distance, though the mechanisms underlying this improved accuracy of distance estimates are unknown. To address this question, we created a mismatch between biomechanical and visual indicators of self-movement within the VE, and assessed the effect on distance and size judgments. Our results suggest that visual-motor feedback influences subsequent distance judgments by recalibrating perceptual-motor relationships, but we found no evidence that perceived size, which was substantially underestimated, changed as a function of this feedback. In contrast to recent studies that suggest that feedback in VEs causes a broad rescaling ofvirtual space, our results are consistent with a visual-motor recalibration account for much of the improvement in distance judgments following VE experience.