Effects of Horizontal Field of View Extension on Spatial Judgments in Virtual Reality

It is known that observers tend to misperceive distances during spatial judgment tasks in virtual reality. Virtual environments restrict field of view as compared to real environments. We explore whether horizontal field of view restriction affects real or perceived ocular convergence. We also explore effects that the size and symmetry of field of view may have. We find that convergence is not impacted by altering field of view, but the subjective median plane is affected. We also find that distance is better estimated in wider fields of view, and that lateral bias in estimation is correlated to the symmetry of the field.