The impact of visuospatial cues on human spatial perception abilities

Abstract

In this study, we conducted spatial perception tests, including distance perception (DP) and size perception (SP) tests, under various experimental conditions to investigate their effects on response accuracy and response time. Participants were divided into a control group (CG), Experimental group 1 (EG1), and Experimental group 2 (EG2). Significant differences were observed between CG and EG1, as well as between EG1 and EG2, with CG and EG2 showing higher response accuracy compared to EG1. Response time differences were also significant among the three groups. Further analysis revealed no significant difference in DP test accuracy means, indicating that limited or no availability of landmarks did not impact participants' distance perception. However, SP test accuracy showed a significant difference, suggesting that the presence or absence of landmarks influenced participants' ability to perceive size. Pairwise comparisons indicated that SP responses in CG and EG2 were more accurate than in EG1. Response time analysis showed a significant difference in SP test response time between EG1 and EG2, with EG1 having longer response times. Gender analysis in EG1 revealed that males performed more accurately than females in this test condition. Demographic factors such as age and gamer/non-gamer status did not significantly influence participants' response accuracy. Participants' performance on DP and SP tests revealed consistent overestimation of distance in the sagittal plane and underestimation in the frontal plane. SP test results indicated that most participants overestimated the height of the cube and underestimated its depth, with no significant gender or gamer/non-gamer differences. This study contributes valuable insights into the impact of experimental conditions on spatial perception, emphasizing the importance of considering these factors in designing tasks or interventions requiring spatial perception. The findings have implications for fields such as cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, and virtual reality design.