VR Side-Effects: Memory & Proprioceptive Discrepancies After Leaving Virtual Reality

DOI

Our brain’s plasticity rapidly adapts our senses in VR, a phenomenon leveraged by techniques such as redirected-walking, hand-redirection, etc. However, while most of HCI is interested in how users adapt to VR, we turn our attention to how users need to adapt their senses when returning to the real-world. We report cases where, even after leaving VR, users experience unintended, lingering side-effects: distortions in proprioception or memory that may pose safety or usability risks. To investigate, we conducted two studies examining (1) proprioceptive side-effects from altered hand movements (retargeting), and (2) memory distortions arising from spatial mismatches between the virtual and real-world locations of the same object. We found that, after leaving VR, (1) participants’ hands remained redirected by up to 7 cm, indicating residual proprioceptive distortion; and (2) participants incorrectly recalled the virtual location of objects rather than their actual real-world locations (e.g., remembering the location of a VR-extinguisher, even when trying to recall the real one). Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for VR and propose a call-to-action for a deeper study of these side-effects within HCI.