Estimating distance in real and virtual environments: Does order make a difference?

Christine J Ziemer; Jodie M Plumert; James F Cremer; Joseph K Kearney

doi:10.3758/APP.71.5.1096

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Estimating distance in real and virtual environments: Does order make a difference?

Journal article

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Estimating distance in real and virtual environments: Does order make a difference?

Christine J Ziemer, Jodie M Plumert, James F Cremer and Joseph K Kearney

Attention, perception & psychophysics, Vol.71(5), pp.1095-1106

07/2009

DOI: 10.3758/APP.71.5.1096

PMCID: PMC2811366

PMID: 19525540

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Abstract

In this investigation, we examined how the order in which people experience real and virtual environments influences their distance estimates. Participants made two sets of distance estimates in one of the following conditions: (1) real environment first, virtual environment second; (2) virtual environment first, real environment second; (3) real environment first, real environment second; or (4) virtual environment first, virtual environment second. In Experiment 1, the participants imagined how long it would take to walk to targets in real and virtual environments. The participants' first estimates were significantly more accurate in the real than in the virtual environment. When the second environment was the same as the first environment (real-real and virtual-virtual), the participants' second estimates were also more accurate in the real than in the virtual environment. When the second environment differed from the first environment (real-virtual and virtual-real), however, the participants' second estimates did not differ significantly across the two environments. A second experiment, in which the participants walked blindfolded to targets in the real environment and imagined how long it would take to walk to targets in the virtual environment, replicated these results. These subtle yet persistent order effects suggest that memory can play an important role in distance perception.

Discrimination (Psychology)

Distance Perception

Female

Generalization (Psychology)

Humans

Imagination

Judgment

Male

Memory, Short-Term

Orientation

Pattern Recognition, Visual

Reality Testing

Reversal Learning

Sensory Deprivation

User-Computer Interface

Walking

Young Adult

Details

Title: Subtitle: Estimating distance in real and virtual environments: Does order make a difference?
Creators: Christine J Ziemer - Departmentof Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. christine-ziemer@uiowa.edu
Jodie M Plumert
James F Cremer
Joseph K Kearney
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Attention, perception & psychophysics, Vol.71(5), pp.1095-1106
DOI: 10.3758/APP.71.5.1096
PMID: 19525540
PMCID: PMC2811366
NLM abbreviation: Atten Percept Psychophys
ISSN: 1943-3921
eISSN: 1943-393X
Grant note: R01 HD052875-03 / NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD052875-02 / NICHD NIH HHS R01-HD052875 / NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD052875 / NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD052875-04 / NICHD NIH HHS R49/CCR721682 / PHS HHS R01 HD052875-01 / NICHD NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 07/2009
Academic Unit: Psychological and Brain Sciences; Nursing; Injury Prevention Research Center; Computer Science
Record Identifier: 9984213398702771

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