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From Clocks to Pendulums: A Study on the Influence of External Moving Objects on Time Perception in Virtual Environments

Published: 09 October 2023 Publication History

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between perceived object motion and the experience of time in virtual environments. We developed an application to measure how the motion properties of virtual objects and the degree of immersion and embodiment may affect the time experience. A first study (n = 145) was conducted remotely using an online video survey, while a second study (n = 60) was conducted under laboratory conditions in virtual reality (VR). Participants in both studies experienced seven different virtual objects in a randomized order and then answered questions about time experience. The VR study added an "embodiment" condition in which participants were either represented by a virtual full body or lacked any form of virtual body representation. In both studies, time was judged to pass faster when viewing oscillating motion in immersive and non-immersive settings and independently of the presence or absence of a virtual body. This trend was strongest when virtual pendulums were displayed. Both studies also found a significant inverse correlation between the passage of time and boredom. Our results support the development of applications that manipulate the perception of time in virtual environments for therapeutic use, for instance, for disorders such as depression, autism, and schizophrenia. Disturbances in the perception of time are known to be associated with these disorders.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Object Motion Manipulation and time perception in virtual realityFrontiers in Virtual Reality10.3389/frvir.2024.13907035Online publication date: 22-Jul-2024
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  • (2024)Time Chamber: Creating a Virtual Environment for Time Dilation with the Selection of Liking Temporal CuesCompanion of the 2024 on ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing10.1145/3675094.3678390(781-785)Online publication date: 5-Oct-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
VRST '23: Proceedings of the 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
October 2023
542 pages
ISBN:9798400703287
DOI:10.1145/3611659
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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Publication History

Published: 09 October 2023

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Author Tags

  1. embodiment
  2. extended reality
  3. mixed reality
  4. time perception
  5. virtual reality
  6. virtual time
  7. virtual zeitgeber

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VRST 2023

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Overall Acceptance Rate 66 of 254 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Object Motion Manipulation and time perception in virtual realityFrontiers in Virtual Reality10.3389/frvir.2024.13907035Online publication date: 22-Jul-2024
  • (2024)Workout at a virtual gym: Surrounding avatar’s motion speed and exercise intensity effect on the user’s time perceptionPLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.031186019:12(e0311860)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
  • (2024)Time Chamber: Creating a Virtual Environment for Time Dilation with the Selection of Liking Temporal CuesCompanion of the 2024 on ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing10.1145/3675094.3678390(781-785)Online publication date: 5-Oct-2024
  • (2024)Tick-tock: Revisiting the Influence of Zeitgebers and Cognitive Load on Time Judgments during and after VR ImmersionProceedings of Mensch und Computer 202410.1145/3670653.3670667(360-369)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2024

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