Perception Action in Virtual Environments

In the Perception and Action in Virtual Environments research group, our aim is to investigate human behavior, perception and cognition using ecologically valid and immersive virtual environments. Virtual reality (VR) equipment enables our scientists to provide sensory stimulus in a controlled virtual world and to manipulate or alter sensory input that would not be possible in the real world. More specifically, VR technology enables us to specifically manipulate the visual body, the contents of the virtual world, and the sensory stimulus (visual, vestibular, kinesthetic, tactile, and auditory) while performing or viewing an action. Our group focuses on several different areas, all areas involve measuring human performance in complex everyday tasks, i.e. spatial judgments, walking, driving, communicating and spatial navigation. We investigate the impact of having an animated self-avatar on spatial perception, the feeling of embodiment or agency, and on the ability for two people to effectively communicate. Our goal is to use state-of-the-art virtual reality technology to better understand how humans perceive sensory information and act in the surrounding world. We use HMDs, large screen displays, motion simulators and sophisticated treadmills in combination with real-time rendering and control software and tools in order to immerse our participants in a virtual world. In this talk I will show videos of our technical setups and explain how I became interested in spatial perception in virtual reality. See specifically the following videos which are available on-line: http://www.youtube.com/user/MPIVideosProject