Perception of Self-Moving Speed in Different Visual Cue and Viewpoint Conditions in Virtual Reality Environment

The perception of geometric cues in virtual spaces differs from that in actual spaces due to the reduced amount of information available in virtual spaces. To investigate the perception of own motion speed in virtual spaces, we conducted a user study involving 30 participants. We manipulated the amount and type of visual information and the viewpoint (i.e., first- or third-person perspective) in the virtual space, and investigated the subjective speed perception in a broad speed range using the psychophysical method of magnitude estimation. We investigated three types of virtual hallways with different scenery: the bleak hallway with little visual information, the hallway filled with objects with easily predictable dimensions, and the hallway with a textured wall that provided greater optical flows but little dimensional cues. Our results show that the speed was perceived to be slower in the bleak hallway than in the other hallways at some speed levels for both the first- and third-person perspective conditions. For the first-person perspective condition, the virtual space with the larger amount of dimensional information could lead to a more linear or accurate speed perception. In the third-person perspective condition, the speed perception was more linear than in the first-person perspective condition for the bleak and textured-wall conditions, and the differences in linearity between different hallway conditions diminished. Designers of virtual reality content need to know these properties of speed perception in virtual spaces.