Spatial updating in superimposed real and virtual environments

Abstract

Wang (2004) showed that people do not always simultaneously update their relationships to real and imagined environments in a dual-environment situation. Employing the same paradigm, we examined whether spatial updating operates on virtual reality as it does on a real or fictitious environment. Participants learned target locations in a real room and a virtual kitchen. Then they turned to face targets either in the room or in the kitchen, while blindfolded, and pointed to the targets before and after turning. Participants kept track of their orientation in both environments equally efficiently, regardless of explicit instructions. In contrast, when the real environment was described verbally but not directly perceived, participants automatically updated the virtual kitchen but not the room. These results suggest that people automatically update a virtual environment as they do a real one when the two environments are superimposed. The automaticity of spatial updating is discussed.

An investigation of the validity of the virtual spatial navigation assessment

“…However, Wan et al (2009) provide evidence that participants still spatially update (e.g., remember locations of objects and landmarks) information in virtual environments much like in real environments. Future work should investigate how performance in the VSNA relates to real world navigation tasks.…”

Dual effects of spatial updating in both real and virtual environments

“…The spatial updating occurs automatically during our physical motion without requiring attention. For example, when people, who were blindfolded or in darkness, were asked to point to the previously well-learned targets relative to their new position after moving, their response latencies and/or accuracy rates were either not affected or only slightly affected by their prior locomotion [2,[11][12][13].…”