Abstract
Most research on three-dimensional (3D) visual-spatial processing has been conducted using traditional non-immersive 2D displays. Here we investigated how individuals generate and transform mental images within 3D immersive (3DI) virtual environments, in which the viewers perceive themselves as being surrounded by a 3D world. In Experiment 1, we compared participants’ performance on the Shepard and Metzler (1971) mental rotation (MR) task across the following three types of visual presentation environments; traditional 2D non-immersive (2DNI), 3D non-immersive (3DNI – anaglyphic glasses), and 3DI (head mounted display with position and head orientation tracking). In Experiment 2, we examined how the use of different backgrounds affected MR processes within the 3DI environment. In Experiment 3, we compared electroencephalogram data recorded while participants were mentally rotating visual-spatial images presented in 3DI vs. 2DNI environments. Overall, the findings of the three experiments suggest that visual-spatial processing is different in immersive and non-immersive environments, and that immersive environments may require different image encoding and transformation strategies than the two other non-immersive environments. Specifically, in a non-immersive environment, participants may utilize a scene-based frame of reference and allocentric encoding whereas immersive environments may encourage the use of a viewer-centered frame of reference and egocentric encoding. These findings also suggest that MR performed in laboratory conditions using a traditional 2D computer screen may not reflect spatial processing as it would occur in the real world.
Highlights
Our ability to generate and transform three-dimensional (3D) visual-spatial images is important for our every-day activities and for a variety of professional activities, such as architecture, air traffic control, and telerobotics
Response accuracy and response times (RTs) for correct responses were assessed as a function of the rotation axis (X, Y, and Z ) and environment (3DI, 3D non-immersive (3DNI), and 2D non-immersive (2DNI))
Materials and design Each participant completed the mental rotation (MR) task used in Experiment 1 in three different viewing environments: 3DIC (3DI City) environment, where Shepard and Metzler forms were embedded in a realistic scene of a city (Figure 5A), 3DF (3D Frame), where Shepard and Metzler forms where embedded in a rectangular frame (Figure 5B), and a 2DNI environment
Summary
Our ability to generate and transform three-dimensional (3D) visual-spatial images is important for our every-day activities (locomotion, navigation) and for a variety of professional activities, such as architecture, air traffic control, and telerobotics. Difficulties of studying visual-spatial cognition within real world environments, where controlling the experimental stimuli and recording participants’ behavior is often impossible, have led researchers to increasingly employ 3D immersive (3DI) virtual environments (Chance et al, 1998; Klatzky et al, 1998; Loomis et al, 1999; Tarr and Warren, 2002; Macuga et al, 2007; Kozhevnikov and Garcia, 2011). Little is known about cognitive processes and neural dynamics underlying image encoding and transformation in 3DI environments, researchers have speculated that immersivity would differentially affect selection of a spatial frame of reference (i.e., spatial coordinate system) during object encoding processes (Kozhevnikov and Garcia, 2011)
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