Experiments Maze experiments A series of four experiments have aimed at discovering differences between the spatial representations of virtual environments vs. real world environments. In general, these experiments teach people about the configuration of a maze in a VE and test their knowledge of it in a real-world maze in our lab. A variety of psychophysical models have been tested. The first two experiments have been written-up and are currently under review at Presence. A postscript file of the manuscript is available for downloading here.
Figures are available here.
Imagine designing a system to train a mechanic how to assemble an engine. These experiments were designed to test the relative utility of VE s, video, and paper-based training. We feel that a VE trainer will be more effective for training spatial skills that have a large cognitive component. The task we trained involved using three-dimensional spatial knowledge of the placements of blocks in a circuit board.