Virtual Environments and the Enhancement of Spatial Behavior: Towards a Comprehensive Research Agenda

Abstract

There is currently much research activity involving virtual environments (VEs) and spatial behavior (spatial perception, cognition, and performance). After some initial remarks describing and categorizing the different types of research being conducted on VEs and spatial behavior, discussion in this Forum paper focuses on one specific type, namely, research concerned with the use of VE technology for training spatial behavior in the real world. We initially present an overview of issues and problems relevant to conducting research in this area, and then, in the latter portion of the paper, present an overview of the research that we believe needs to be done in this area.We have written this paper for the forum section of Presence because, despite its length, it is essentially an opinion piece. Our aim here is not to report the results of research in our own laboratory nor to review the literature, as other available papers already serve these goals. Rather, the primary purpose of this paper is to stimulate open discussion about needed future research. In general, we believe that such a discussion can serve the research establishment as much as reports of completed work. Introduction and BackgroundThis paper is concerned with the use of VE technology to train spatial behavior in the real world. Our use of the word behavior here is intended to include all of the processes that underlie spatial behavior-such as spatial perception, cognition, and awareness-as well as overt spatial behavior (performance) itself. In addition, however, our use of this word is intended to stress its importance; ultimately, it is the overt behavior that counts. Illustrative examples of spatial behavior include the behavior that is exhibited in • exploring a space, • searching for some item in the space, • planning or following a route in a space, • selecting and recognizing landmarks in a space, • estimating range and bearing of targets in a space (including cases in which the target is not visible from the estimation location),• constructing or interpreting maps of a space, and • imagining how a space and objects within it would appear from different viewpoints.Rather than focusing on past results about VEassisted training of spatial behavior, in this paper we outline a research program that is aimed at achieving future advances. By doing so, we hope to stimulate thought and discussion that will lead to the realization

Quantifying the benefits of immersion for procedural training

“…Immersive VEs provide better depth cues; stereo images and head based rendering, helping the user understand the stereopsis and motion parallax much better. Higher levels of immersion aid applications that require a good spatial understanding [64,60,75,21]. The user will feel the sense of being there in the environment.…”

“…With lower levels of immersion, the spatial understanding will be lower [21,60,75], and the user will not be able to make as much use of proprioception as they do in scenarios with higher levels of immersion(due to lower FOV, lower FOR and other components of immersion. ).This supports the research hypothesis put forward by this work.…”

“…Software Field of View: Software Field of view (FOV) is the area (measured in visual angle) that the computer graphic program camera sees in the virtual world at any instant in time [52]. world is scaled exactly to the same dimensions as the real world, meaning that spatial layout of the virtual environment would be very similar to that of the real world [75,21].…”

Control of a Lateral Helicopter Side-step Maneuver on an Anthropomorphic Robot

“…Confidence in a simulator as a valid tool for research and training depends upon the ability of the simulator to provide adequate motion cues to the pilot, i.e., its ability to induce adequate human performance for a given task and environment 5,6 . Because of the limited kinematic envelope for all motion systems, other than actual aircraft, motion drive algorithms are required to provide the best use of the available motion envelope 7 .…”

Exploring the Relationship Between Distributed Training, Integrated Learning Environments, and Immersive Training Environments

“…Research: Durlach et al (2000) presents a review of virtual environments; however, the citations mainly fall in conference proceedings and technical reports. While this would be a good initial read for an introduction to the topic, Stanney's 2002 book provides quite a bit more solid empirical data within the chapters.…”