research-article

Keep my head on my shoulders!: why third-person is bad for navigation in VR

Authors:

Daniel Medeiros,

Rafael K. dos Anjos,

João Madeiras Pereira,

Alberto Raposo,

Joaquim JorgeAuthors Info & Claims

VRST '18: Proceedings of the 24th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

Article No.: 16, Pages 1 - 10

https://doi.org/10.1145/3281505.3281511

Published: 28 November 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Head-Mounted Displays are useful to place users in virtual reality (VR). They do this by totally occluding the physical world, including users' bodies. This can make self-awareness problematic. Indeed, researchers have shown that users' feeling of presence and spatial awareness are highly influenced by their virtual representations, and that self-embodied representations (avatars) of their anatomy can make the experience more engaging. On the other hand, recent user studies show a penchant towards a third-person view of one's own body to seemingly improve spatial awareness. However, due to its unnaturality, we argue that a third-person perspective is not as effective or convenient as a first-person view for task execution in VR. In this paper, we investigate, through a user evaluation, how these perspectives affect task performance and embodiment, focusing on navigation tasks, namely walking while avoiding obstacles. For each perspective, we also compare three different levels of realism for users' representation, specifically a stylized abstract avatar, a mesh-based generic human, and a real-time point-cloud rendering of the users' own body. Our results show that only when a third-person perspective is coupled with a realistic representation, a similar sense of embodiment and spatial awareness is felt. In all other cases, a first-person perspective is still better suited for navigation tasks, regardless of representation.

Supplementary Material

MP4 File (a16-medeiros.mp4)

Download
30.99 MB

References

[1]

Matthew Botvinick, Jonathan Cohen, et al. 1998. Rubber hands' feel'touch that eyes see. Nature 391, 6669 (1998), 756--756.

[2]

Ronan Boulic, Damien Maupu, and Daniel Thalmann. 2009. On scaling strategies for the full-body postural control of virtual mannequins. Interacting with Computers 21, 1 (2009), 11--25.

Digital Library

[3]

Pierre Bourdin, Itxaso Barberia, Ramon Oliva, and Mel Slater. 2017. A virtual out-of-body experience reduces fear of death. PloS one 12, 1 (2017), e0169343.

[4]

Henrique Galvan Debarba, Sidney Bovet, Roy Salomon, Olaf Blanke, Bruno Herbelin, and Ronan Boulic. 2017. Characterizing first and third person viewpoints and their alternation for embodied interaction in virtual reality. PloS one 12, 12 (2017), e0190109.

[5]

Henrique G Debarba, Eray Molla, Bruno Herbelin, and Ronan Boulic. 2015. Characterizing embodied interaction in First and Third Person Perspective viewpoints. In 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), 2015 IEEE Symposium on. IEEE, 67--72.

[6]

Alena Denisova and Paul Cairns. 2015. First person vs. third person perspective in digital games: do player preferences affect immersion?. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 145--148.

Digital Library

[7]

Mark Draper. 1995. Exploring the influence of a virtual body on spatial awareness. Master's thesis. University of Washington.

[8]

H Henrik Ehrsson. 2007. The experimental induction of out-of-body experiences. Science 317, 5841 (2007), 1048--1048.

[9]

Geoffrey Gorisse, Olivier Christmann, Etienne Armand Amato, and Simon Richir. 2017. First-and Third-Person Perspectives in immersive Virtual environments: Presence and Performance analysis of embodied Users. Frontiers in Robotics and AI 4 (2017), 33.

[10]

Victoria Interrante, Brian Ries, and Lee Anderson. 2006. Distance perception in immersive virtual environments, revisited. In IEEE Virtual Reality Conference (VR 2006). IEEE, 3--10.

Digital Library

[11]

Konstantina Kilteni, Raphaela Groten, and Mel Slater. 2012. The sense of embodiment in virtual reality. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 21, 4 (2012), 373--387.

Digital Library

[12]

Thomas Kosch, Robin Boldt, Matthias Hoppe, Pascal Knierim, and Markus Funk. 2016. Exploring the Optimal Point of View in Third Person Out-of-Body Experiences. In Proccedings of 10th International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA 2016). ACM.

Digital Library

[13]

Bigna Lenggenhager, Michael Mouthon, and Olaf Blanke. 2009. Spatial aspects of bodily self-consciousness. Consciousness and cognition 18, 1 (2009), 110--117.

[14]

J.-L. Lugrin, J. Latt, and M. E. Latoschik. 2015. Anthropomorphism and Illusion of Virtual Body Ownership. In Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and 20th Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments (ICAT - EGVE '15). Eurographics Association, Aire-la-Ville, Switzerland, Switzerland, 1--8.

Digital Library

[15]

Antonella Maselli and Mel Slater. 2013. The building blocks of the full body ownership illusion. Front Hum Neurosci 7 (03 2013).

[16]

Erin A McManus, Bobby Bodenheimer, Stephan Streuber, Stephan De La Rosa, Heinrich H Bülthoff, and Betty J Mohler. 2011. The influence of avatar (self and character) animations on distance estimation, object interaction and locomotion in immersive virtual environments. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on applied perception in graphics and visualization. ACM, 37--44.

Digital Library

[17]

Betty J Mohler, Sarah H Creem-Regehr, William B Thompson, and Heinrich H Bülthoff. 2010. The effect of viewing a self-avatar on distance judgments in an HMD-based virtual environment. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 19, 3 (2010), 230--242.

Digital Library

[18]

Diego Monteiro, Hai-Ning Liang, Wenge Xu, Marvin Brucker, Vijayakumar Nanjappan, and Yong Yue. {n. d.}. Evaluating enjoyment, presence, and emulator sickness in VR games based on first-and third-person viewing perspectives. Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds ({n. d.}), e1830.

[19]

Masahiro Mori, Karl F MacDorman, and Norri Kageki. 2012. The uncanny valley {from the field}. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 19, 2 (2012), 98--100.

[20]

Valeria Ivanova Petkova, Mehrnoush Khoshnevis, and H Henrik Ehrsson. 2011. The perspective matters! Multisensory integration in ego-centric reference frames determines full-body ownership. Frontiers in psychology 2 (2011), 35.

[21]

Lukasz Piwek, Lawrie S McKay, and Frank E Pollick. 2014. Empirical evaluation of the uncanny valley hypothesis fails to confirm the predicted effect of motion. Cognition 130, 3 (2014), 271--277.

[22]

Rebekka S Renner, Boris M Velichkovsky, and Jens R Helmert. 2013. The perception of egocentric distances in virtual environments-a review. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 46, 2 (2013), 23.

Digital Library

[23]

Brian Ries, Victoria Interrante, Michael Kaeding, and Lee Anderson. 2008. The effect of self-embodiment on distance perception in immersive virtual environments. In Proceedings of the 2008 ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology. ACM, 167--170.

Digital Library

[24]

Patrick Salamin, Tej Tadi, Olaf Blanke, Frederic Vexo, and Daniel Thalmann. 2010. Quantifying effects of exposure to the third and first-person perspectives in virtual-reality-based training. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies 3, 3 (2010), 272--276.

Digital Library

[25]

Patrick Salamin, Daniel Thalmann, and Frédéric Vexo. 2006. The benefits of third-person perspective in virtual and augmented reality?. In Proceedings of the ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology. ACM, 27--30.

Digital Library

[26]

Patrick Salamin, Daniel Thalmann, and Frédéric Vexo. 2008. Improved Third-Person Perspective: a solution reducing occlusion of the 3PP?. In Proceedings of The 7th ACM SIGGRAPH International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry. ACM, 30.

Digital Library

[27]

Maria V Sanchez-Vives, Bernhard Spanlang, Antonio Frisoli, Massimo Bergamasco, and Mel Slater. 2010. Virtual hand illusion induced by visuomotor correlations. PloS one 5, 4 (2010), e10381.

[28]

Ulrike Schultze. 2010. Embodiment and presence in virtual worlds: a review. Journal of Information Technology 25, 4 (2010), 434--449.

[29]

Ellen L Schuurink and Alexander Toet. 2010. Effects of third person perspective on affective appraisal and engagement: Findings from SECOND LIFE. Simulation & Gaming 41, 5 (2010), 724--742.

Digital Library

[30]

Mel Slater, Daniel Pérez Marcos, Henrik Ehrsson, and Maria V Sanchez-Vives. 2008. Towards a digital body: the virtual arm illusion. Frontiers in human neuroscience 2 (2008), 6.

[31]

Mel Slater, Bernhard Spanlang, and David Corominas. 2010. Simulating virtual environments within virtual environments as the basis for a psychophysics of presence. ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) 29, 4 (2010), 92.

Digital Library

[32]

Mel Slater and Martin Usoh. 1994. Body centred interaction in immersive virtual environments. Artificial life and virtual reality 1 (1994), 125--148.

[33]

Mauricio Sousa, Daniel Mendes, Rafael Kuffner Dos Anjos, Daniel Medeiros, Alfredo Ferreira, Alberto Raposo, João Madeiras Pereira, and Joaquim Jorge. 2017. Creepy Tracker Toolkit for Context-aware Interfaces. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 191--200.

Digital Library

[34]

Ye Yuan and Anthony Steed. 2010. Is the rubber hand illusion induced by immersive virtual reality?. In 2010 IEEE Virtual Reality Conference (VR). IEEE, 95--102.

Digital Library

Cited By

Li XHe WJin SGugenheimer JHui PLiang HKristensson P(2024)Investigating Creation Perspectives and Icon Placement Preferences for On-Body Menus in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36981368:ISS(236-254)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3698136
Lefebvre MDoppia TDoué ARoy RPeysakhovich VGrollman DBroadbent EJu WSoh HWilliams T(2024)Impact of Body Movement and Teleoperation Interface on Operator's PerformanceCompanion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/3610978.3640645(659-663)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610978.3640645
Gao BZheng HZhao JTu HKim HDuh H(2024)Evaluating Plausible Preference of Body-Centric Locomotion using Subjective Matching in Virtual Reality2024 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)10.1109/VR58804.2024.00124(1054-1064)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/VR58804.2024.00124
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Keep my head on my shoulders!: why third-person is bad for navigation in VR
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Graphics systems and interfaces
      1. Mixed / augmented reality
      2. Perception
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. User studies

Recommendations

Fitted avatars: automatic skeleton adjustment for self-avatars in virtual reality
Abstract
In the era of the metaverse, self-avatars are gaining popularity, as they can enhance presence and provide embodiment when a user is immersed in Virtual Reality. They are also very important in collaborative Virtual Reality to improve ...
From robot to virtual doppelganger: impact of avatar visual fidelity and self-esteem on perceived attractiveness
AVI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces

This paper presents the first study of a series of experiments aiming to investigate the impact of avatar visual fidelity on user experience with emphasis on the sense of embodiment in immersive virtual environments (IVE). This first experiment requires ...
Wearable head-mounted 3D tactile display application scenarios
MobileHCI '16: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct

Current generation virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) usually include no or only a single vibration motor for haptic feedback and do not use it for guidance. In a previous work, we presented HapticHead, a ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

VRST '18: Proceedings of the 24th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

November 2018

570 pages

ISBN:9781450360869

DOI:10.1145/3281505

Editor:
Stephen N. Spencer
University of Washington
,
General Chair:
Shigeo Morishima
Waseda University
,
Program Chairs:
Yuichi Itoh
Osaka University
,
Takaaki Shiratori
Facebook Reality Labs
,
Yonghao Yue
The University of Tokyo
,
Rob Lindeman
University of Canterbury

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

Sponsors

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 28 November 2018

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Funding Sources

Conference

VRST '18

Sponsor:

VRST '18: 24th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

November 28 - December 1, 2018

Tokyo, Japan

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 66 of 254 submissions, 26%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

29
Total Citations
View Citations
707
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)66
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)15

Reflects downloads up to 05 Mar 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Li XHe WJin SGugenheimer JHui PLiang HKristensson P(2024)Investigating Creation Perspectives and Icon Placement Preferences for On-Body Menus in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36981368:ISS(236-254)Online publication date: 24-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3698136
Lefebvre MDoppia TDoué ARoy RPeysakhovich VGrollman DBroadbent EJu WSoh HWilliams T(2024)Impact of Body Movement and Teleoperation Interface on Operator's PerformanceCompanion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/3610978.3640645(659-663)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610978.3640645
Gao BZheng HZhao JTu HKim HDuh H(2024)Evaluating Plausible Preference of Body-Centric Locomotion using Subjective Matching in Virtual Reality2024 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)10.1109/VR58804.2024.00124(1054-1064)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/VR58804.2024.00124
Jianlin LJun ZXuehua SHang YXintong LSaizhe DWeiguo S(2024)The validation of pedestrian trajectories during turning and obstacle avoidance in virtual environmentsPhysica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications10.1016/j.physa.2023.129340633(129340)Online publication date: Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2023.129340
Brument HDe Pace FPodkosova I(2024)Does mixed reality influence joint action? Impact of the mixed reality setup on users’ behavior and spatial interactionJournal on Multimodal User Interfaces10.1007/s12193-024-00445-wOnline publication date: 6-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12193-024-00445-w
Medeiros DDubus RWilliamson JWilson GPöhlmann KMcGill M(2023)Surveying the Social Comfort of Body, Device, and Environment-Based Augmented Reality Interactions in Confined Passenger Spaces Using Mixed Reality Composite VideosProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36109237:3(1-25)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610923
Podkosova IDe Pace FBrument H(2023)Joint Action in Collaborative Mixed Reality: Effects of Immersion Type and Physical LocationProceedings of the 2023 ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction10.1145/3607822.3614541(1-12)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3607822.3614541
Mottelson AMuresan AHornbæk KMakransky G(2023)A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Effectiveness of Body Ownership Illusions in Virtual RealityACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/359076730:5(1-42)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3590767
Medeiros DWilson GMcgill MBrewster S(2023)The Benefits of Passive Haptics and Perceptual Manipulation for Extended Reality Interactions in Constrained Passenger SpacesProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581079(1-19)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581079
Otono RGenay APerusquía-Hernández MIsoyama NUchiyama HHachet MLécuyer AKiyokawa K(2023)I'm Transforming! Effects of Visual Transitions to Change of Avatar on the Sense of Embodiment in AR2023 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)10.1109/VR55154.2023.00024(83-93)Online publication date: Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/VR55154.2023.00024
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten