From: lishka@dxcern.cern.ch (Christopher Lishka)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: SCI: Vr and Psychology
Date: 5 Nov 92 10:10:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov6.034034.4021
Organization: CERN European Lab for Particle Physics
Originator: hlab@stein.u.washington.edu


>In article <1992Nov2.094343.8477@u.washington.edu> copley-devon@CS.YALE.EDU (De
v
>on Copley) writes:

        >>The tendancy to exhibit physical responses (i.e., leaning
        >>forward/back while moving through a virtual world) to visual
        >>stimuli seems to be very robust, and occurs in many
        >>situations.

        >> Has anyone experienced the avoidance response (ducking,
        >>raising hands to protect the face) in VR?  It should be
        >>reasonably easy to evoke.


You don't even need full VR.  One of the more harrowing experiences I
have had at a movie theatre happened when I was a teenager.  A friend
(male) and I went to see a couple of old 50's 3-D flicks (don the
red/blue glasses and have some fun).  The movies were in general
pretty lame, except for one particular effect.  There was an on-screen
explosion in a crater at some point, and all sorts of rocks were sent
flying.  One fairly large rock headed straight out of the screen, on a
trajectory that would intercept with our laps.  Both of us
*SIMULTANEOUSLY* blocked the path from the rock to our crotches in
what was truly a deep-seated reflex.  It is hilarious thinking back on
it, but there was an instant of sheer terror before our brains kicked
in to tell us this was *ONLY* a movie.

A similar anecdote from the early days of silent films: there was a
very popular film made about a train robbery back when movies were
starting up.  The plot was very basic.  What made this movie shine was
special effects.  They used a technique very similar to blue-screening
(rotoscoping?) to add in visuals of rapidly moving scenery during
fights scenes in a simulated train car.

Anyhow, at the *very* end of the film was a single scene that was
completely out of context of the rest of the movie.  It supposedly
scared the audience quite out of their wits time and time again.  The
scene was simply a close-up of one of the robbers with a gun pointed
directly at the camera.  The robber fires the gun (which, in the
theatre, would supposedly be accompanied by a firing sound), the
explosion is seen in the gun, and smoke rises from the barrel.  I have
seen this film, and this scene is quite lame by todays standards.
However, at the time it was very scary.

I assume this kind of stuff will certainly happen in VR.  I haven't
tried any VR good enough to simulate it yet (the Virtuality games
aren't realistic enough), but I am sure it will be achieved in the
future.  I wonder if virtual roller-coaster rides will need the same
kinds of warnings ("people with heart conditions should not ride
this") as the real thing?

                                                .oO Chris Oo.


-- 
                                                           Christopher Lishka
 Never drive a car when you're dead...                     PPE Division, CERN
                                -- Tom Waits              lishka@dxcern.cern.ch
                                                             vxaluw::lishka