scholarly journals PICTURES OF ME: POSSIBILITIES OF SHAPING OUR BODY IMAGE THROUGH VIRTUAL REALITY / MANO PORTRETAI: KŪNO ATVAIZDŲ APIFORMINIMO GALIMYBĖS VIRTUALIOJOJE REALYBĖJE

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mateusz Woźniak

Brain system responsible for visual perception has been extensively studied. Visual system analyses a wide variety of stimuli in order to let us create adaptive representation of surrounding world. But among vast amounts of processed information come visual cues describing our own bodies. These cues constitute our so-called body-image. We tend to perceive it as a relatively stable structure but recent research, especially within the domain of virtual reality, introduces doubts to this assumption. New problems appear concerning perceiving others’ and our own bodies in virtual space and how does it influence our experience of ourselves and true reality. Recent studies show that how we see our avatars influence how we behave in artificial worlds. It introduces a brand new way of thinking about human embodiment. Virtual reality allows us to transcend beyond the casual visual-sensory-motor integration and create new ways to experience embodiment, temporarily replacing permanent body image with almost any imaginable digital one. Santrauka Smegenų sistema, atsakinga už vizualųjį suvokimą, yra nuodugniai ištirta. Vizualioji sistema analizuoja plačią akstinų įvairovę, padedančią mums sukurti adaptuotą supančio pasaulio reprezentaciją. Tačiau tarp didelio kiekio apdorotos informacijos kyla vizualiosios užuominos, atvaizduojančios mūsų pačių kūnus. Šios užuominos steigia vadinamąjį kūną-atvaizdą. Mes linkstame jį suvokti kaip sąlygiškai stabilią struktūrą, tačiau dabartiniai tyrimai, o ypač tie, kurie vykdomi virtualiojoje realybėje, tokia prielaida verčia suabejoti. Kyla naujų problemų, suvokiant kitų ir mūsų pačių kūnus virtualiojoje erdvėje bei kokios įtakos tai turi mūsų pačių savęs ir tikrosios realybės patyrimui. Nūdieniai tyrinėjimai atskleidžia, kad tai, kaip mes suvokiame savąjį kūniškumą, turi įtakos tam, kaip elgiamės dirbtiniuose pasauliuose. Tai steigia visiškai naują žmogiškojo kūniškumo suvokimo būdą. Virtualioji realybė leidžia mums peržengti paprastą vizualinęjutiminę-motorinę integraciją ir kurti naujus būdus patirti kūniškumą, palaipsniui pakeičiant ilgalaikį kūno atvaizdą bet kokiu įsivaizduojamu skaitmeniniu.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Casali ◽  
Sarah Shipley ◽  
Charlie Dowell ◽  
Robin Hayman ◽  
Caswell Barry

AbstractThe regular firing pattern exhibited by medial entorhinal (mEC) grid cells of locomoting rodents is hypothesized to provide spatial metric information relevant for navigation. The development of virtual reality (VR) for head-fixed mice confers a number of experimental advantages and has become increasingly popular as a method for investigating spatially-selective cells. Recent experiments using 1D VR linear tracks have shown that some mEC cells have multiple fields in virtual space, analogous to grid cells on real linear tracks. We recorded from the mEC as mice traversed virtual tracks featuring regularly spaced repetitive cues and identified a population of cells with multiple firing fields, resembling the regular firing of grid cells. However, further analyses indicated that many of these were not, in fact, grid cells because: 1) When recorded in the open field they did not display discrete firing fields with six-fold symmetry; 2) In different VR environments their firing fields were found to match the spatial frequency of repetitive environmental cues. In contrast, cells identified as grid cells based on their open field firing patterns did not exhibit cue locking. In light of these results we highlight the importance of controlling the periodicity of the visual cues in VR and the necessity of identifying grid cells from real open field environments in order to correctly characterise spatially modulated neurons in VR experiments.


Author(s):  
Robin Horst ◽  
Ramtin Naraghi-Taghi-Off ◽  
Linda Rau ◽  
Ralf Dörner

AbstractEvery Virtual Reality (VR) experience has to end at some point. While there already exist concepts to design transitions for users to enter a virtual world, their return from the physical world should be considered, as well, as it is a part of the overall VR experience. We call the latter outro-transitions. In contrast to offboarding of VR experiences, that takes place after taking off VR hardware (e.g., HMDs), outro-transitions are still part of the immersive experience. Such transitions occur more frequently when VR is experienced periodically and for only short times. One example where transition techniques are necessary is in an auditorium where the audience has individual VR headsets available, for example, in a presentation using PowerPoint slides together with brief VR experiences sprinkled between the slides. The audience must put on and take off HMDs frequently every time they switch from common presentation media to VR and back. In a such a one-to-many VR scenario, it is challenging for presenters to explore the process of multiple people coming back from the virtual to the physical world at once. Direct communication may be constrained while VR users are wearing an HMD. Presenters need a tool to indicate them to stop the VR session and switch back to the slide presentation. Virtual visual cues can help presenters or other external entities (e.g., automated/scripted events) to request VR users to end a VR session. Such transitions become part of the overall experience of the audience and thus must be considered. This paper explores visual cues as outro-transitions from a virtual world back to the physical world and their utility to enable presenters to request VR users to end a VR session. We propose and investigate eight transition techniques. We focus on their usage in short consecutive VR experiences and include both established and novel techniques. The transition techniques are evaluated within a user study to draw conclusions on the effects of outro-transitions on the overall experience and presence of participants. We also take into account how long an outro-transition may take and how comfortable our participants perceived the proposed techniques. The study points out that they preferred non-interactive outro-transitions over interactive ones, except for a transition that allowed VR users to communicate with presenters. Furthermore, we explore the presenter-VR user relation within a presentation scenario that uses short VR experiences. The study indicates involving presenters that can stop a VR session was not only negligible but preferred by our participants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 3090
Author(s):  
Sangwook Yoo ◽  
Cheongho Lee ◽  
Seongah Chin

To experience a real soap bubble show, materials and tools are required, as are skilled performers who produce the show. However, in a virtual space where spatial and temporal constraints do not exist, bubble art can be performed without real materials and tools to give a sense of immersion. For this, the realistic expression of soap bubbles is an interesting topic for virtual reality (VR). However, the current performance of VR soap bubbles is not satisfying the high expectations of users. Therefore, in this study, we propose a physically based approach for reproducing the shape of the bubble by calculating the measured parameters required for bubble modeling and the physical motion of bubbles. In addition, we applied the change in the flow of the surface of the soap bubble measured in practice to the VR rendering. To improve users’ VR experience, we propose that they should experience a bubble show in a VR HMD (Head Mounted Display) environment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104687812110082
Author(s):  
Omamah Almousa ◽  
Ruby Zhang ◽  
Meghan Dimma ◽  
Jieming Yao ◽  
Arden Allen ◽  
...  

Objective. Although simulation-based medical education is fundamental for acquisition and maintenance of knowledge and skills; simulators are often located in urban centers and they are not easily accessible due to cost, time, and geographic constraints. Our objective is to develop a proof-of-concept innovative prototype using virtual reality (VR) technology for clinical tele simulation training to facilitate access and global academic collaborations. Methodology. Our project is a VR-based system using Oculus Quest as a standalone, portable, and wireless head-mounted device, along with a digital platform to deliver immersive clinical simulation sessions. Instructor’s control panel (ICP) application is designed to create VR-clinical scenarios remotely, live-stream sessions, communicate with learners and control VR-clinical training in real-time. Results. The Virtual Clinical Simulation (VCS) system offers realistic clinical training in virtual space that mimics hospital environments. Those VR clinical scenarios are customizable to suit the need, with high-fidelity lifelike characters designed to deliver interactive and immersive learning experience. The real-time connection and live-stream between ICP and VR-training system enables interactive academic learning and facilitates access to tele simulation training. Conclusions. VCS system provides innovative solutions to major challenges associated with conventional simulation training such as access, cost, personnel, and curriculum. VCS facilitates the delivery of academic and interactive clinical training that is similar to real-life settings. Tele-clinical simulation systems like VCS facilitate necessary academic-community partnerships, as well as global education network between resource-rich and low-income countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Minqi Wang ◽  
Emily A. Cooper

Dichoptic tone mapping methods aim to leverage stereoscopic displays to increase visual detail and contrast in images and videos. These methods, which have been called both binocular tone mapping and dichoptic contrast enhancement , selectively emphasize contrast differently in the two eyes’ views. The visual system integrates these contrast differences into a unified percept, which is theorized to contain more contrast overall than each eye’s view on its own. As stereoscopic displays become increasingly common for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), dichoptic tone mapping is an appealing technique for imaging pipelines. We sought to examine whether a standard photographic technique, exposure bracketing, could be modified to enhance contrast similarly to dichoptic tone mapping. While assessing the efficacy of this technique with user studies, we also re-evaluated existing dichoptic tone mapping methods. Across several user studies; however, we did not find evidence that either dichoptic tone mapping or dichoptic exposures consistently increased subjective image preferences. We also did not observe improvements in subjective or objective measures of detail visibility. We did find evidence that dichoptic methods enhanced subjective 3D impressions. Here, we present these results and evaluate the potential contributions and current limitations of dichoptic methods for applications in stereoscopic displays.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Jingyi Li ◽  
Ceenu George ◽  
Andrea Ngao ◽  
Kai Holländer ◽  
Stefan Mayer ◽  
...  

Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space constrains interactions while the virtual space may be conceptually borderless. We therefore conducted a VR study (N = 33) to examine the influence of physical restraints and virtual working environments on performance, presence, and the feeling of safety. Our findings show that virtual borders make passengers touch the car interior less, while performance and presence are comparable across conditions. Although passengers prefer a secluded and unlimited virtual environment (nature), they are more productive in a shared and limited one (office). We further discuss choices for virtual borders and environments, social experience, and safety responsiveness. Our work highlights opportunities and challenges for future research and design of rear-seat VR interaction.


Author(s):  
Jordan Sasser ◽  
Fernando Montalvo ◽  
Rhyse Bendell ◽  
P. A. Hancock ◽  
Daniel S. McConnell

Prior research has indicated that perception of acceleration may be a direct process. This direct process may be conceptually linked to the ecological approach to visual perception and a further extension of direct social perception. The present study examines the effects of perception of acceleration in virtual reality on participants’ perceived attributes (perceived intelligence and animacy) of a virtual human-like robot agent and perceived agent competitive/cooperativeness. Perceptual judgments were collected after experiencing one of the five different conditions dependent on the participant’s acceleration: mirrored acceleration, faster acceleration, slowed acceleration, varied acceleration resulting in a win, and varied acceleration resulting in a loss. Participants experienced each condition twice in a counterbalanced fashion. The focus of the experiment was to determine whether different accelerations influenced perceptual judgments of the observers. Results suggest that faster acceleration was perceived as more competitive and slower acceleration was reported as low in animacy and perceived intelligence.


Leonardo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung Nam ◽  
Daniel F. Keefe

Spatial Correlation is an interactive digital artwork that provides a new window into the process of creating freeform handcrafted virtual sculptures while standing in an immersive Cave virtual reality (VR) environment. The piece originates in the lab, where the artist’s full-body, dance-like sculpting process is recorded using a combination of spatial tracking devices and an array of nine synchronized video cameras. Later, in the gallery, these raw data are reinterpreted as part of an interactive visualization that relates the three spaces in which the sculpture exists: 1) the physical lab/studio space in which the sculpture was created, 2) the digital virtual space in which the sculpture is mathematically defined and stored, and 3) the physical gallery space in which viewers now interact with the sculpture.


2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1516) ◽  
pp. 463-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devi Stuart-Fox ◽  
Adnan Moussalli

Organisms capable of rapid physiological colour change have become model taxa in the study of camouflage because they are able to respond dynamically to the changes in their visual environment. Here, we briefly review the ways in which studies of colour changing organisms have contributed to our understanding of camouflage and highlight some unique opportunities they present. First, from a proximate perspective, comparison of visual cues triggering camouflage responses and the visual perception mechanisms involved can provide insight into general visual processing rules. Second, colour changing animals can potentially tailor their camouflage response not only to different backgrounds but also to multiple predators with different visual capabilities. We present new data showing that such facultative crypsis may be widespread in at least one group, the dwarf chameleons. From an ultimate perspective, we argue that colour changing organisms are ideally suited to experimental and comparative studies of evolutionary interactions between the three primary functions of animal colour patterns: camouflage; communication; and thermoregulation.


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