Virtual Reality and Cognitive Processes (original) (raw)
2011
From 1st to 6th June 2008, the Dagstuhl Seminar 08231 Virtual Realities was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. Virtual Reality (VR) is a multidisciplinary area of research aimed at interactive human-computer mediated simulations of articial environments. Typical applications include simulation, training, scientic visualization, and entertainment. An important aspect of VR-based systems is the stimulation of the human senses typically sight, sound, and touch such that a user feels a sense of presence (or immersion) in the virtual environment. Dierent applications require dierent levels of presence, with corresponding levels of realism, sensory immersion, and spatiotemporal interactive delity. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available.
Realistic virtual reality and perception
Realistic uses of Virtual Reality (VR) technology closely integrate user training on virtual objects with VR-assisted user interactions with real objects. This paper shows how the Interactive Theory of Perception (ITP) may be extended to cover such cases. Virtual objects are explained as concrete models (CMs) that have an inner generation mechanism, and the ITP is used to explain how VR users can both perceive such local CMs, and perceptually represent remote real objects. Also, concepts of modeling and representation are distinguished. The paper concludes with suggestions as to how the ITP methodology developed here could be extended to iconic external representations and models generally.
Physical, psychological and virtual realities
The Virtual Embodied, 1998
This paper examines the similarities and differences between physical, psychological and virtual realities, and challenges some, deeply rooted, conventional assumptions about how these relate to each other. Virtual realities cannot easily be understood in either dualist or materialist reductive terms, as they exemplify the reflexive nature of perception. The chapter summarises some of the evidence for this "reflexive model" of perception, and challenges the conventional separation of physical objects as-perceived from our perceptions of physical objects that forms one basis for the conventionally understood "hard problem” of consciousness. It also explores some of the potential consequences of becoming immersed in virtual realities. Although this chapter was published in 1998 and develops work published in 1990, it presents a form of "radical phenomenological externalism" that anticipates many themes in current internalism versus externalism debates about the nature of mind. It is also relevant to an understanding of virtual reality "presence."
Virtual Reality as a Tool for the Study of Perception-Action: The Case of Running to Catch Fly Balls
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 2011
Virtual reality (VR) holds great promise for the study of perception-action. The case of studying the outfielder problem is presented as an example of how VR has contributed to our understanding of perception-action, and of the potential and pitfalls of using VR in such a task. The outfielder problem refers to the situation in a baseball game (and analogous situations) in which an outfielder has to run to get to the right location at the right time to make a catch. Several experimental studies are discussed in which participants had to intercept real or virtual balls. The biggest added value of using VR is the fact that the virtual world is completely in the hands of the experimenter, which allows studying situations that do not exist outside of VR, thus enabling strong hypothesis testing. A number of factors related to the success of the VR experiments are identified, such as the lack of haptic feedback in VR setups used in this paradigm until now, the specifics of the optics prese...
Virtual Reality for Animals: linking concrete and abstract reasoning through action in virtual space
The key feature of VR (Virtual reality) is the way we can now concretise the abstract. The key question is how the abstract, the purely mental, relates to the physical, the concrete, the bodily. Can the experiential and cognitive aspects of mental life be catered for, indeed blended, through smooth humancomputer interaction in a VR? In this speculative paper, I claim that they can be more than blended, that experiential interaction with concrete objects allows abstract, purely cognitive work to be bodily located within a virtuallyphysical landscape, and that this has to be designed in addition to the physical, bodily experiences which may (or may not) stand for abstract entities and relationships. So I suggest that there are three domains for the design of VR interaction: VR as pure bodily experience, VR as one or more embodiments of abstract knowledge, and VR as a link between the bodily and the abstract in the human participant. Including the third domain allows VRs to be designed with the express purpose of supporting cognition and creativity through virtual spatial action and experience. The approach draws loosely on the experiential theory of meaning of Lakoff and Johnson as well as Jung's views on the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious.
2009
Virtual reality (VR) creates a sensory and psychological experience for users as an alternative to reality. More than just one technology, VR is an ever-growing set of tools and techniques that can be used to create the psychological sensation of being in an alternate space. Underpinning the techniques used to create compelling virtual environments is the basic observation that information is fated for processing by a human sensory and perceptual system that has evolved to interact with regularities occurring in the physical world . The more one can provide the system with sensory inputs that simulate and effectively mimic those encountered in nature, the more convincing the resulting perceptual and cognitive experience will be for the user. The ultimate goal of designers and users of VR environments is a computer-generated simulation that is indistinguishable to the user from its real-world equivalent. Reaching toward this goal has already enabled us to realize some of VR's potential for use in training, engineering, scientific research, and for providing uniquely gratifying entertainment experiences .
The Use of Virtual Reality in Psychology: A Case Study in Visual Perception
Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, 2015
Recent proliferation of available virtual reality (VR) tools has seen increased use in psychological research. This is due to a number of advantages afforded over traditional experimental apparatus such as tighter control of the environment and the possibility of creating more ecologically valid stimulus presentation and response protocols. At the same time, higher levels of immersion and visual fidelity afforded by VR do not necessarily evoke presence or elicit a “realistic” psychological response. The current paper reviews some current uses for VR environments in psychological research and discusses some ongoing questions for researchers. Finally, we focus on the area of visual perception, where both the advantages and challenges of VR are particularly salient.
Virtual reality: this is not a shopfront (journal article)
2016
Disclaimer: The papers and posters presented in these proceedings are the intellectual property of their respective authors, and the City Street 2 Conference cannot be held responsible for their content. The publisher is not responsible of the use which might be made of the following information.
Meckler Publishing, 1991
1. MEDIA TECHNOLOGY AND SIMULATION OF FIRST-PERSON EXPERIENCE " Watch out for a remarkable new process called SENSORAMA! It attempts to engulf the viewer in the stimuli of reality. Viewing of the color stereo film is replete with binaural sound, colors, winds, and vibration. The original scene is recreated with remarkable fidelity. At this time, the system comes closer to duplicating reality than any other system we have seen!" [1] For most people, "duplicating reality" is an assumed, if not obvious goal for any contemporary imaging technology. The proof of the 'ideal' picture is not being able to discern object from representation-to be convinced that one is looking at the real thing. At best, this judgement is usually based on a first order evaluation of 'ease of identification'; i.e. realistic pictures should resemble what they represent. But resemblance is only part of the effect. In summing up prevailing theories on realism in images, Perkins comments: " Pictures inform by packaging information in light in essentially the same form that real objects and scenes package it, and the perceiver unwraps that package in essentially the same way." [2]