Teleportation is one of the most widely used locomotion techniques in virtual reality (VR) because it is efficient, minimizes motion sickness, and enables large-scale spatial traversal with minimal effort. However, research on the Doorway Effect shows that spatial transitions can impair memory of information encountered just before the transition. Event Segmentation Theory (EST) explains this by proposing that salient changes disrupt a person’s working memory representation, causing recently encoded information to be replaced and reducing its availability for retrieval. By extension, the design of spatial transitions in VR may influence whether memory is disrupted or preserved, which could be a consideration in applied contexts such as education and training. One way to mitigate such impairment is to provide predictive cues about the upcoming change to reduce disruption. In VR, this can be implemented through teleportation previews, which give users a glimpse of the destination before arrival. In this experiment, we adapted the Doorway Effect paradigm to examine how two teleportation design factors — preview availability and environmental change — affect memory. Using a within-subjects 2 × 2 design (N = 27), participants studied a set of 3D objects, then teleported either within the same environment or into a different one, with or without a preview of the destination. After each transition, they completed a visual recognition task. Results showed two key findings: (1) without previews, recognition declined when teleporting into a different environment compared to remaining in the same one, and (2) when transitioning between different environments, providing a preview improved recognition relative to no preview. Together, these results indicate that both the distinctiveness of environments and the availability of previews shape memory during VR transitions. We discuss how these findings align with EST, highlight the cognitive consequences of teleportation design, and provide guidance for designing transitions that better support memory in applied contexts such as education and training.

Augmented reality (AR) display characteristics have the potential to either enhance or impair users' spatial abilities and performance. While previous work included studies of spatial performance with various display factors, evidence for objective performance differences is limited due to compensatory behaviors employed by users and overall behavioral differences. In general, it is challenging to document the effects of display factors on task performance as they depend on users' task behaviors, which in turn depend on users' reliance and trust in the technology, which are also affected by the display factors. In this paper, we present two within-subjects experiments (each N = 20) in which we aim to elucidate some of the interrelations between two AR display factors (field of view and visual contrast) with objective task performance and subjective assessments of reliance and trust, while controlling for different behaviors. Participants performed a $360^\circ$360∘ search-and-selection task in a unique hybrid setup, in which we simulated a controlled task environment by having participants stand inside an immersive CAVE-like space while at the same time wearing a head-worn display that overlaid AR tags over the simulated environment. Specifically, we evaluated three fields of view ($43^\circ$43∘, $93^\circ$93∘, and $143^\circ$143∘) and three visual contrasts (0.05, 0.25, and 0.5). We controlled for four different behaviors: AR-Only (only relying on AR), AR-First (prioritizing AR over real world), Real-First (prioritizing real world over AR), and Real-Only (only relying on real world). By controlling for these behaviors, we were able to show objective and subjective benefits of larger fields of view and visual contrast. We illustrate how the controlled behaviors relate to users' subjective reliance and trust in an AR system, and why it is important for researchers and practitioners to understand these subjective and behavioral aspects.

In Virtual Reality (VR) users often turn their bodies during experiences. Virtual navigation techniques use body rotations and virtual forward translations to simulate movement. Despite being designed for stationary use, these techniques can cause Unintentional Positional Drift (UPD), impacting user safety and VR experiences. We carried out a human-participant study, approved by our university ethics board, involving 20 participants performing repetitive rotation tasks. Our study focused on intentionally inducing UPD via physical rotations by adding an offset to the VR camera’s roll angle, creating a visual illusion of "leaning" or "banking." Our results show that camera roll offsets induced UPD along participants initial left-right axis under specific conditions. Additionally, rotation magnitude and forward translation flow affected UPD, while no significant effects were found due to rotation direction.

When collaborating relative to a shared 3D virtual object in mixed reality (MR), users may experience communication issues arising from differences in perspective. These issues include occlusion (e.g., one user not being able to see what the other is referring to) and inefficient spatial references (e.g., "to the left of this" may be confusing when users are positioned opposite to each other). This paper presents a novel technique for automatic perspective alignment in collaborative MR involving co-located interaction centered around a shared virtual object. To align one user's perspective on the object with a collaborator's, a local copy of the object and any other virtual elements that reference it (e.g., the collaborator's hands) are dynamically transformed. The technique does not require virtual travel and preserves face-to-face interaction. We created a prototype application to demonstrate our technique and present an evaluation methodology for related MR collaboration and perspective alignment scenarios.

This workshop is the outgrowth of a Dagstuhl seminar (24371) held in September 2024 on Extended Reality Accessibility. The workshop brought together researchers, advocates, and other stakeholders to address concerns around accessibility in extended reality (XR). XR technologies are evolving rapidly, and have the potential to redefine communication and learning in the future. Ensuring that this evolution considers accessibility should be a primary design criterion for XR, as retroactive design is never as effective.

This study explores perspectives on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) from researchers in the IEEE VR community. Fourteen participants expressed sustained commitment to DEIA, noting underrepresentation of women, BIPOC, individuals with disabilities, and researchers from developing countries or low socioeconomic backgrounds. Participants perceived high costs, lack of accessibility features (e.g., subtitles, mobility support), and insufficient family resources (e.g., childcare) as barriers. Among factors that could deter support of DEIA listed were fear of retaliation, financial constraints, structural challenges, and difficulties identifying diverse representatives. Strategies participants supported included reporting demographic statistics, strategic planning, and promoting DEIA in speakers and attendees.

Over the past decades there has been extensive research investigating the trade-offs between various Virtual Reality (VR) locomotion techniques. One of the most highly researched techniques is teleportation, due to its ability to quickly traverse large virtual spaces even in limited physical tracking spaces. The majority of teleportation research has been focused on its effects on spatial cognition, such as spatial understanding and retention. However, relatively little is known about whether the use of teleportation in immersive learning experiences can effect the acquisition of semantic knowledge - our knowledge about facts, concepts, and ideas - which is essential for long-term learning. In this paper we present a human-subjects study to investigate the effects of teleportation compared to natural walking on the retention of semantic information about artifacts in a virtual museum. Participants visited unique 3D artifacts accompanied by audio clips and artifact names. Our results show that participants reached the same semantic memory performance with both locomotion techniques but with different behaviors, self-assessed performance, and preference. In particular, participants subjectively indicated that they felt that they recalled more semantic memory with walking than teleportation. However, objectively, they spent more time with the artifacts while walking, meaning that they learnt less per a set amount of time than with teleportation. We discuss the relationships, implications, and guidelines for VR experiences designed to help users acquire new knowledge.

The information presented by augmented reality (AR) systems may not appear exactly like information perceived in the "real" world. Shortfalls in AR technology give rise to anomalies like tracker errors, lack of opacity compared to the background, and reduced field of view (FOV) compared to the human visual system's field of view. These anomalies can make users feel like the information presented in an AR training system is not believable. This lack of belief can lead to negative training, where trainees adjust how they train due to flaws in the training system and are therefore less prepared for actual battlefield situations. We have completed an experiment to investigate trust, reliance, and human task performance in an augmented reality three-dimensional experimental scenario. Specifically, we used a methodology in which simulated real (complex) entities were supplemented by abstract (basic) cues presented as overlays in an AR headworn display (HWD) for a visual search and awareness task. We simulated shortfalls of different AR display systems to determine which of the properties most affect training efficacy. Results from our experiment will feed directly into the design of training systems that use AR displays and will help increase the efficacy of training.

This research paper explores the impact of augmented reality (AR) tracking characteristics, specifically an AR head-worn display’s tracking registration accuracy and precision, on users’ spatial abilities and subjective perceptions of trust in and reliance on the technology. Our study aims to clarify the relationships between user performance and the different behaviors users may employ based on varying degrees of trust in and reliance on AR. Our controlled experimental setup used a 360° field-of-regard search-and-selection task and combines the immersive aspects of a CAVE-like environment with AR overlays viewed with a head-worn display.We investigated three levels of simulated AR tracking errors in terms of both accuracy and precision (+0°, +1°, +2°). We controlled for four user task behaviors that correspond to different levels of trust in and reliance on an AR system: AR-Only (only relying on AR), AR-First (prioritizing AR over real world), Real-Only (only relying on real world), and Real-First (prioritizing real world over AR). By controlling for these behaviors, our results showed that even small amounts of AR tracking errors had noticeable effects on users’ task performance, especially if they relied completely on the AR cues (AR-Only). Our results link AR tracking characteristics with user behavior, highlighting the importance of understanding these elements to improve AR technology and user satisfaction.

This position paper outlines a study on the influence of avatars dis-playing warmth or coldness cues on interpersonal space in virtual reality. Participants will engage in a comfort-distance task, approaching avatars exhibiting thermoregulatory behaviors. Anticipated findings include a reduction in interpersonal distance with warm cues and an increase with cold cues. The study will offer insights into the complex interplay between temperature, social perception, and interpersonal space.

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 31st IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, the premier international conference focused on the latest research in these domains. We are delighted to host IEEE VR 2024 as the first fully in-person VR since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and look forward to seeing, learn, share, and hang out with our vibrant community after these challenging years.

Augmented reality (AR) technology enables advanced integration of spatial information useful in a variety of important domains, including for reading topographic maps in the field. It is also important to understand how this technology may potentially affect spatial learning ability. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of virtual reality (VR) to conduct a human-subject study investigating the impacts of different simulated AR topographic map interface designs on spatial learning outcomes. Our results show that interfaces that encourage engagement with the interface instead of with the map and the environment result in fast task completion times but poor spatial learning. We also found participant preference for a novel interface design that assists users with map orientation without explicitly guiding the user through the task.

In most cases, retaining memories of things we have experienced in the past is desirable, but in some cases, we want to clear our minds so that we may focus completely on subsequent activities. When someone switches from one task to another, they commonly incur some "cognitive residue" where some of their cognitive resources such as working memory and attention remain devoted to their previous task even after they try to switch their focus to their new task. This residue could have a negative impact on their performance in the next task, and in such circumstances, it is important to reduce that residue. In this paper, we explore the concept of cognitive residue in the context of switching between virtual reality (VR) environments. We conducted a human-subject experiment (N=24) with a spatial recall task to investigate how different visual transitions might reduce participants' spatial cognitive residue. In this instance, more errors on the recall task corresponds to less spatial cognitive residue. We found that transitions that lasted one minute successfully reduced spatial cognitive residue: they significantly reduced participants' abilities to recall the positions of objects in their previous VE compared to an instantaneous cut transition. Additionally, for transitions that showed a nature scene, greater head movement significantly correlated with more spatial memory errors (i.e., less spatial cognitive residue). We discuss how these findings can be applied to support users transitioning between virtual tasks and environments in VR task switching scenarios.

Augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) provide users with a view in which digital content is blended spatially with the outside world. However, one critical issue faced with such display technologies is misperception, i.e., perceptions of computer-generated content that differs from our human perception of other real-world objects or entities. Misperception can lead to mistrust in these systems and negative impacts in a variety of application fields. Although there is a considerable amount of research investigating either size, distance, or speed misperception in AR, far less is known about the relationships between these aspects. In this paper, we present an outdoor AR experiment (N = 20) using a HoloLens 2 HMD. Participants estimated size, distance, and speed of Familiar and Unfamiliar outdoor animals at three distances (30, 60, 90 meters). To investigate whether providing information about one aspect may influence another, we divided our experiment into three phases. In Phase I, participants estimated the three aspects without any provided information. In Phase II, participants were given accurate size information, then asked to estimate distance and speed. In Phase III, participants were given accurate distance and size information, then asked to estimate speed. Our results show that estimates of speed in particular of the Unfamiliar animals benefited from provided size information, while speed estimates of all animals benefited from provided distance information. We found no support for the assumption that distance estimates benefited from provided size information.

The Virtual Experience Research Accelerator (VERA) is currently undergoing development, but by ISMAR 2024 we expect to have an early version of the system available for the running of real or realistic user studies, for the purpose of testing the VERA systems and procedures. On 21 Oct 2024, we will conduct an ISMAR 2024 tutorial to introduce attendees to the requirements and procedures for getting involved in such testing, what we expect in terms of tester effort, and what we expect in terms of test system functionality. We will update this website with materials relevant to the tutorial prior to the conference, so that we may use the in-person setting to focus on demos, adapting studies, and discussion.

Human-robot teams push the boundaries of what both humans and robots can accomplish. In order for the team to function well, the human must accurately assess the robot’s capabilities to calibrate the trust between the human and robot. In this paper, we use virtual reality (VR), a widely accepted tool in studying human-robot interaction (HRI), to study human behaviors affecting their detection and understanding of changes in a simulated robot’s reliability. We present a human-subject study to see how different reliability change factors may affect this process. Our results demonstrate that participants make judgements about robot reliability before they have accumulated sufficient evidence to make objectively high-confidence inferences about robot reliability. We show that this reliability change observation behavior diverges from behavior expectations based on the probability distribution functions used to describe observation outcomes.

We present a system for visually transitioning a mixed reality (MR) user between two arbitrary realities (e.g., between two virtual worlds or between the real environment and a virtual world). The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate a 360° video that transforms the user's starting environment to another environment, passing through a liminal space that could help them relax between tasks or prepare them for the ending environment. The video can then be viewed on an MR headset.

Speech perception is optimal in quiet environments, but noise can impair comprehension and increase errors. In these situations, lip reading can help, but it is not always possible, such as during an audio call or when wearing a face mask. One approach to improve speech perception in these situations is to use an artificial visual lip reading aid. In this paper, we present a user study (N = 17) in which we compared three levels of audio stimuli visualizations and two levels of modulating the appearance of the visualization based on the speech signal, and we compared them against two control conditions: an audio-only condition, and a real human speaking. We measured participants’ speech reception thresholds (SRTs) to understand the effects of these visualizations on speech perception in noise. These thresholds indicate the decibel levels of the speech signal that are necessary for a listener to receive the speech correctly 50% of the time. Additionally, we measured the usability of the approaches and the user experience. We found that the different artificial visualizations improved participants’ speech reception compared to the audio-only baseline condition, but they were significantly poorer than the real human condition. This suggests that different visualizations can improve speech perception when the speaker’s face is not available. However, we also discuss limitations of current plug-and-play lip sync software and abstract representations of the speaker in the context of speech perception.

Various reasons exist why humans desire to magnify portions of our visually perceived surroundings, e.g., because they are too far away or too small to see with the naked eye. Different technologies are used to facilitate magnification, from telescopes to microscopes using monocular or binocular designs. In particular, modern digital cameras capable of optical and/or digital zoom are very flexible as their high-resolution imagery can be presented to users in real-time with displays and interfaces allowing control over the magnification. In this paper, we present a novel design space of intuitive augmented reality (AR) magnifications where an AR head-mounted display is used for the presentation of real-time magnified camera imagery. We present a user study evaluating and comparing different visual presentation methods and AR interaction techniques. Our results show different advantages for unimanual, bimanual, and situated AR magnification window interfaces, near versus far vergence distances for the image presentation, and five different user interfaces for specifying the scaling factor of the imagery.