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Abstract

Our work investigates the perception of the body and space in real and virtual environments with the aim of determining whether observers view virtual environments as intended by designers. Using measures adopted from embodied perception theories in psychology, which emphasize the role of the body in space perception, we test whether observers perceive virtual spaces akin to real spaces in the context of body capabilities for action. In immersive virtual environments (IVEs) and real environments, we changed either the physical (real world) or virtual body to assess its influence on whether or not people said they could pass
through or under an aperture. IVEs allowed for body manipulations that were not possible in the real world. We found that when the body was made wider or taller through physical manipulations in the real world, people's estimates of passing through or under an aperture were altered along with their judgments of the width or height of the aperture. We also found that judgments of the ability to pass under or through an aperture were similar across real and virtual environments even when no changes to the body were implemented. Finally, we showed that virtual manipulations of body dimensions (some not possible in the real world) affected decisions about action with respect to apertures in IVEs. Overall, the findings
suggest that the body plays a role in space perception in both real and virtual environments, suggesting that care should be taken when constructing virtual representations of the body, especially in the case of self avatars.