Effects of Field of View on Egocentric Distance Perception in Virtual Reality

Title of the Paper

Effects of Field of View on Egocentric Distance Perception in Virtual Reality

Paper Information

• Subject Area: The impact of Field of View (FOV) on egocentric distance perception in virtual reality
• Keywords: Virtual reality, Field of View, Distance perception, Egocentric, Indoor environment, Outdoor environment, Virtual environment, VR, Horizontal FOV, Vertical FOV

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • Research indicates that people tend to underestimate distances when using head-mounted displays (HMDs) in virtual reality.
  • Factors influencing distance perception in virtual environments include device attributes, environmental properties, and human characteristics, with FOV being a significant variable, though its specific effects remain controversial.
  • The latest high-FOV devices provide new opportunities to explore the effects of FOV on distance perception.

• Why It Is Important:

  • The widespread application of virtual reality technology (e.g., in industry, education, and entertainment) demands higher accuracy in environmental representation.
  • Accurate distance perception is critical for intuitive interaction, especially in VR scenarios requiring rapid movement or operations.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Previous studies on the effects of FOV on distance perception have yielded conflicting results, with some suggesting significant impacts of changes in horizontal FOV (hfov) and vertical FOV (vfov), while others found no significant correlation.
  • This study aims to isolate the effects of FOV, eliminating interference from other device attributes (e.g., weight, resolution), to determine the specific role of FOV.

Solution

• Research Methods:

  • Using the Pimax 5K Plus wide-FOV HMD, simulate different horizontal FOVs (165°, 110°, and 45°) and vertical FOVs (110° and 35°) to conduct user studies.
  • Evaluate distance perception errors through "blind walking tasks" under four virtual environment conditions (indoor/outdoor, cluttered/clean).

• Innovative Aspects:

  • For the first time, the study isolates the effects of FOV to explore its specific role in high-resolution, wide-FOV HMDs.
  • Comprehensive research combining FOV variations with different environmental conditions to verify the impact of the environment on user distance perception.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Generate different virtual environments: clean indoor, cluttered indoor, clean outdoor, cluttered outdoor.
  2. Programmatically simulate different FOV combinations and randomize target points and FOV settings for each trial.
  3. Record user-perceived distance errors using blind walking tasks.
  4. Use a backpack PC to avoid interference from traditional wired devices, ensuring free user movement.

Research Results

• Specific Findings:

  • A wider horizontal FOV (hfov) significantly reduces distance perception errors.
  • Vertical FOV (vfov) has no significant effect on distance perception.
  • Distance perception in cluttered environments is better than in clean environments; indoor environments outperform outdoor environments.
  • The farther the target, the greater the error.

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • By maintaining consistent hardware configurations (resolution, weight, etc.), the study isolates the effects of FOV while simultaneously verifying the role of the environment.
  • Provides recommendations for FOV and environmental design to optimize distance perception in practical VR systems.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Distance errors under a horizontal FOV of 165° were significantly lower than those under narrower FOVs (110° and 45°).
  • No significant differences were observed between vertical FOVs of 110° and 35°.
  • The cluttered indoor environment yielded the best results, while the clean outdoor environment showed the most significant errors.
  • Statistical analyses, such as ANOVA, support the significance of the main effects of hfov and environment type.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The range of FOVs and environment types is limited; future research should refine FOV intervals and test more environmental variables.
  • Participants were primarily university students; future studies should expand the sample to include a broader demographic.
  • The study did not compare real-world and virtual environments, which will be a focus of future research.
  • The effects of FOV on near-field and far-field distance perception remain unexplored, representing another future research direction.