Calibrating Visual Path Integration in VEs

Abstract

When moving around in the world, humans can use the motion sensations provided by their kinesthetic, vestibular, and visual senses to maintain their sense of direction. Previous research in virtual environments (VEs) has shown that this so-called path integration process is inaccurate in the case that only visual motion stimuli are present, which may lead to disorientation. In an experiment, we investigated whether participants can calibrate this visual path integration process for rotations; in other words, can they learn the relation between visual flow and the angle that they traverse in the VE? Results show that, by providing participants with knowledge of results (KR), they can indeed calibrate the biases in their path integration process, and also maintain their improved level of performance on a retention test the next day.