Imperceptible body transformation in virtual reality: Saliency of self representation

Gizem Senel; Francisco Macia-Varela; Jaime Gallego; Hatice Pehlivan Jensen; Kasper Hornbæk; Mel Slater

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938

Imperceptible body transformation in virtual reality: Saliency of self representation

Gizem Senel, Francisco Macia-Varela, Jaime Gallego, Hatice Pehlivan Jensen, Kasper Hornbæk, Mel Slater^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Human-Centred Computing

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

14 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Change blindness (CB) is the perceptual phenomenon whereby people are blind to dramatic changes in their visual environment. In virtual reality (VR) a person's body can be substituted by a life-sized virtual one that moves synchronously with their real body movements as their self-representation. We consider whether CB occurs in VR, and whether there are differences in the case of changes to their own virtual body compared with the body of another. Forty people took part in a Qi Gong lesson in VR led by a virtual instructor. During the lesson both their own and the instructor's face dramatically changed in appearance. Overall, 73% and 85% did not notice the changes to their own and instructor's face respectively. People make iconic inferences about their visual surroundings without sampling detail, and reduced CB in the case of their own body may be a marker for self-representation.

Original language	English
Article number	107938
Journal	iScience
Volume	26
Issue number	10
ISSN	2589-0042
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938
Publication status	Published - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)

Keywords

Applied sciences
Social sciences

Access to Document

10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

FulltextFinal published version, 4.23 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{2a59610e026b42f6aee6b159593366dd,

title = "Imperceptible body transformation in virtual reality: Saliency of self representation",

abstract = "Change blindness (CB) is the perceptual phenomenon whereby people are blind to dramatic changes in their visual environment. In virtual reality (VR) a person's body can be substituted by a life-sized virtual one that moves synchronously with their real body movements as their self-representation. We consider whether CB occurs in VR, and whether there are differences in the case of changes to their own virtual body compared with the body of another. Forty people took part in a Qi Gong lesson in VR led by a virtual instructor. During the lesson both their own and the instructor's face dramatically changed in appearance. Overall, 73% and 85% did not notice the changes to their own and instructor's face respectively. People make iconic inferences about their visual surroundings without sampling detail, and reduced CB in the case of their own body may be a marker for self-representation.",

keywords = "Applied sciences, Social sciences",

author = "Gizem Senel and Francisco Macia-Varela and Jaime Gallego and Jensen, {Hatice Pehlivan} and Kasper Hornb{\ae}k and Mel Slater",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938",

language = "English",

volume = "26",

journal = "iScience",

issn = "2589-0042",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "10",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Imperceptible body transformation in virtual reality

T2 - Saliency of self representation

AU - Senel, Gizem

AU - Macia-Varela, Francisco

AU - Gallego, Jaime

AU - Jensen, Hatice Pehlivan

AU - Hornbæk, Kasper

AU - Slater, Mel

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Change blindness (CB) is the perceptual phenomenon whereby people are blind to dramatic changes in their visual environment. In virtual reality (VR) a person's body can be substituted by a life-sized virtual one that moves synchronously with their real body movements as their self-representation. We consider whether CB occurs in VR, and whether there are differences in the case of changes to their own virtual body compared with the body of another. Forty people took part in a Qi Gong lesson in VR led by a virtual instructor. During the lesson both their own and the instructor's face dramatically changed in appearance. Overall, 73% and 85% did not notice the changes to their own and instructor's face respectively. People make iconic inferences about their visual surroundings without sampling detail, and reduced CB in the case of their own body may be a marker for self-representation.

AB - Change blindness (CB) is the perceptual phenomenon whereby people are blind to dramatic changes in their visual environment. In virtual reality (VR) a person's body can be substituted by a life-sized virtual one that moves synchronously with their real body movements as their self-representation. We consider whether CB occurs in VR, and whether there are differences in the case of changes to their own virtual body compared with the body of another. Forty people took part in a Qi Gong lesson in VR led by a virtual instructor. During the lesson both their own and the instructor's face dramatically changed in appearance. Overall, 73% and 85% did not notice the changes to their own and instructor's face respectively. People make iconic inferences about their visual surroundings without sampling detail, and reduced CB in the case of their own body may be a marker for self-representation.

KW - Applied sciences

KW - Social sciences

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173719320&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107938

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37876610

AN - SCOPUS:85173719320

VL - 26

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

SN - 2589-0042

IS - 10

M1 - 107938

ER -