What Is Virtual Reality?
Immersion Is Key
A virtual environment gives the user the experience of immersion, the feeling of being part of a different world. In order for immersion to work well in a VE the user must be able to interact with the environment in a meaningful way.
Two main components of immersion: Depth of information and breadth of information. -Depth of information refers to the amount and quality of data in the signals a user receives when interacting in a virtual environment -Breadth information is the number of sensory dimensions simultaneously presented. |
This Is RealThe concept of a virtual environment is using computer technology to create a simulated, three-dimensional world that the user can manipulate and explore while feeling as if they were in that world.
A strong VR technology will usually have three- dimensional images that appear to be life-sized to the user, strong graphics, improved latency, and the ability to track a user’s motions, particularly the user’s head and eye movement, and it must be able to correspondingly adjust the images on the user’s display to reflect the change in perspective. Perception & AttentionThe perception of the user’s environment is determined by a combination of incoming data, bottom-up processing which is crucial for the user’s experience because if their receptors are stimulated then they are seeing nothing, and existing knowledge, top-down processing that involves a person’s knowledge of the stimulant.
We notice this process easily when we watch the user interact with their virtual world as you notice them direct their visual attention with their eyes and body by looking around as they explore the world they are put into. The VR headset takes into account saccades, rapid movements of the eyes from place to another, and fixations, short pauses on points of interest of the user. |