Improvements in visually directed walking in virtual environments cannot be explained by changes in gait alone
J. Adam Jones, J. Edward Swan, Gurjot Singh, S.Karunakar Reddy, Kenneth R. Moser, Chunya Hua, Stephen R. Ellis · 2012
A previous study indicated that peripheral visual information strongly affects the judgment of egocentric distances for users of immersive virtual environments. The experiment described in this document aimed to investigate if these effects could be explained in terms of changes in gait caused by visual information in the extreme periphery. Three conditions with varying degrees of peripheral occlusion were tested and participants' walking characteristics measured. The results indicate that the improvements in distance judgments, as peripheral information increases, can only partially be explained in terms of gait modification, but likely involve both changes in the characteristics of gait and other spatial or movement parameters.