The cat is out of the bag: the effect of virtual characters and scale cues on physics coherence

Abstract

According to previous research, humans are exceptionally skilled at distinguishing earth-congruent object trajectories from earth-discrepant ones. Inconsistent scale cues in Virtual Reality (VR), however, are shown to easily confuse VR users’ scale, size, and distance estimations. This paper describes the results of two studies, with 40 participants each, which tested the effects of self-scaling, and size cues from active virtual characters, on perceived physics coherence (i.e., subjective realism). In the first study (Study A), a humanoid robot the size of a doll manipulated household objects to demonstrate their rigid body dynamics. The demonstration sequence was performed twice, once using a correct approximation of physics, and once using an incorrect one in which gravity was simulated similarly to as if the doll-sized robot was human-sized and the surrounding room was enlarged. The participants observed both demonstrations, once while standing at the normal scale and once at a reduced scale, similar to that of the humanoid robot. The second study (Study B) was similar, except that the virtual character demonstrating the physics was a regular-sized cat. Our preregistered hypotheses predicted that participants would consider the correct approximation of physics as better matching their expectations at normal scale, and the incorrect one as better matching their expectations at the reduced scale. However, only the second of these hypotheses was supported. According to our exploratory analyses, the participant’s own scale was a poor predictor of physics preference, and instead there was a significant effect regarding the virtual character’s identity. Participants observing the virtual cat were about eight times more likely to select the realistic physics model compared to those observing the humanoid robot. The results indicate that familiar cues tied to virtual character identity overrode any potential effects related to changes in the participants’ own scale.