Exploring the Relative Effects of Body Position and Spatial Cognition on Presence When Playing Virtual Reality Games

ABSTRACT

Previous research has suggested that cognitive functions such as execution, attention, memory, and perception differ when body position changes. However, the influence of body position on these cognitive functions is still not fully understood. In particular, little is known about how physical self-positioning may affect the cognitive process of perceptual responses in a virtual environment (VE). In this regard, we compared three body positions (standing, sitting, and half-sitting) in two types of virtual reality (VR) game with different degrees of freedom in navigation (finite and infinite) to explore the association between body position and the sense of presence in VEs. A two-way ANOVA yielded a main effect for body position, with the sense of presence significantly higher for a standing position than for a half-sitting position. However, there was no main effect for game type, nor was there an interaction between body position and game type. In addition, a one-way ANOVA revealed that, for the game with infinite navigation, participants in a standing position felt stronger presence than those who were sitting or half-sitting, whereas no significant difference was found between the sitting and half-sitting positions. In contrast, there was no statistical difference between the three body positions when playing the game with finite navigation. Taken together, it can be speculated that the cognitive effects of body position on presence are correlated with the degree of freedom in navigation in a VE.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government [NRF-2017M3C7A1047225].

Notes on contributors

Aelee Kim

Aelee Kim received her M.F.A. in Design and Media Arts from the University of California in Los Angeles. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. Her research has focused on the cognitive effects of virtual reality.

Min Woo Kim

Min Woo Kim received his B.S. (2020) in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. He is currently a M.S. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. His research interests include image retrieval, network compression, and meta learning.

Hayoung Bae

Hayoung Bae is currently a B.A. student in the Department of Psychology at Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.

Kyoung-Min Lee

Kyoung-Min Lee is a Professor of Neurology and Cognitive Science at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. His current research focuses on the impact of mobile devices on human cognition, the benefit of videogame playing to cognitive development and brain health, and noninvasive modulation of brain metabolism to prevent neurodegeneration.