Methodology for assessment of cognitive skills in virtual environments

Pawlik, S

Abstract

The client briefing of the proposed building design is usually in the form of drawings
and artistic impressions being presented to the client. However, very few clients are
able to read a technical drawing and the artist impressions are limited and do not aid
the client to visualise all aspects of the proposed building. During the client briefing
process the client needs to have the experiential quality described, to be able to fully
understand the design of the proposed building. Generally, humans perceive and
directly experience architectural space by building qualities like texture, form, colour,
light, scale, movement. A full-scale model of the proposed building would fully
afford the experimental qualities. In reality it would be impractical and not cost
effective. However, VR technology allows the creation of an inclusion of space in
user's mind, through a minimum of means, but achieves a maximum impact, and
affords all the experiential qualities offered by a physical model.
A virtual model with a high degree of detail which can be explored by the designer
and his clients will therefore be of significant help. However, to give clients the best
possible impression of the proposed design it is important to understand how
dimensions of those designed spaces are perceived. Therefore, a study was carried out
focusing on fundamental investigations into the perception of basic architectural
dimensions in order to assess the potential usefulness of VR technology in
architecture and the client briefing process.
In two experiments, subjects were required to estimate egocentric and exocentric
dimensions in Virtual Environments and Real World Setting (RWS). The influence of
stimuli orientation was also investigated. In estimating all dimensions a magnitude
estimation procedure was employed using a modified free-modulus technique. All
participants were pre-tested. Psychometric and visual tests were used for choosing an
experimental group with a fair degree of homogenity. Two independent subject groups
were used. In addition to dimension estimations recall of simple layout and feeling of
space were investigated when evaluating the virtual interface.
The general null hypothesis assumed that people perceive space in VE as well as in
the real world. It has been shown that the results are statistically significant and
therefore one was able to reject the general hypothesis. Overall participants
underestimated the dimensions in both experiments by approximately 20%. Results
and limitations of the study are discussed. The results of the experiments would
indicate that VR technology can be used for simulations of architectural spaces
because despite underestimations of dimensions it still performed relatively well if
one compares it with results of experiments in the Real World Settings.

Citation

Pawlik, S. Methodology for assessment of cognitive skills in virtual environments. (Thesis). University of Salford, UK

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2009
• Additional Information: Additional Information : PhD supervisors: Professor Peter Brandon, Professor Bob Stone, Professor Terence Fernando
• Award Date: Dec 1, 2001