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1. Field-of-View Restriction to Reduce VR Sickness Does Not Impede Spatial Learning in Women

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3448304  

   Adhanom, Isayas Berhe; Al-Zayer, Majed; Macneilage, Paul; Folmer, Eelke (June 2021, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception)

   null (Ed.)

   Women are more likely to experience virtual reality (VR) sickness than men, which could pose a major challenge to the mass market success of VR. Because VR sickness often results from a visual-vestibular conflict, an effective strategy to mitigate conflict is to restrict the user’s field-of-view (FOV) during locomotion. Sex differences in spatial cognition have been well researched, with several studies reporting that men exhibit better spatial navigation performance in desktop three-dimensional environments than women. However, additional research suggests that this sex difference can be mitigated by providing a larger FOV as this increases the availability of landmarks, which women tend to rely on more than men. Though FOV restriction is already a widely used strategy for VR headsets to minimize VR sickness, it is currently not well understood if it impedes spatial learning in women due to decreased availability of landmarks. Our study (n=28, 14 men and 14 women) found that a dynamic FOV restrictor was equally effective in reducing VR sickness in both sexes, and no sex differences in VR sickness incidence were found. Our study did find a sex difference in spatial learning ability, but an FOV restrictor did not impede spatial learning in either sex. 

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2. Assessing vignetting as a means to reduce VR sickness during amplified head rotations

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3225153.3225162  

   Norouzi, Nahal; Bruder, Gerd; Welch, Greg (January 2018, ACM Symposium on Applied Perception 2018)

   Redirected and amplified head movements have the potential to provide more natural interaction with virtual environments (VEs) than using controller-based input, which causes large discrepancies between visual and vestibular self-motion cues and leads to increased VR sickness. However, such amplified head movements may also exacerbate VR sickness symptoms over no amplification. Several general methods have been introduced to reduce VR sickness for controller-based input inside a VE, including a popular vignetting method that gradually reduces the field of view. In this paper, we investigate the use of vignetting to reduce VR sickness when using amplified head rotations instead of controllerbased input. We also investigate whether the induced VR sickness is a result of the user’s head acceleration or velocity by introducing two different modes of vignetting, one triggered by acceleration and the other by velocity. Our dependent measures were pre and post VR sickness questionnaires as well as estimated discomfort levels that were assessed each minute of the experiment. Our results show interesting effects between a baseline condition without vignetting, as well as the two vignetting methods, generally indicating that the vignetting methods did not succeed in reducing VR sickness for most of the participants and, instead, lead to a significant increase. We discuss the results and potential explanations of our findings. 

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3. Cybersickness Abatement from Repeated Exposure to VR with Reduced Discomfort

   https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3483070  

   Doty, Taylor A; Kelly, Jonathan W; Gilbert, Stephen B; Dorneich, Michael C (January 2024, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics)

   Cybersickness, or sickness induced by virtual reality (VR), negatively impacts the enjoyment and adoption of the technology. One method that has been used to reduce sickness is repeated exposure to VR, herein Cybersickness Abatement from Repeated Exposure (CARE). However, high sickness levels during repeated exposure may discourage some users from returning. Field of view (FOV) restriction reduces cybersickness by minimizing visual motion in the periphery, but also negatively affects the user's visual experience. This study explored whether CARE that occurs with FOV restriction generalizes to a full FOV experience. Participants played a VR game for up to 20 minutes. Those in the Repeated Exposure Condition played the same VR game on four separate days, experiencing FOV restriction during the first three days and no FOV restriction on the fourth day. Results indicated significant CARE with FOV restriction (Days 1-3). Further, cybersickness on Day 4, without FOV restriction, was significantly lower than that of participants in the Single Exposure Condition, who experienced the game without FOV restriction only on one day. The current findings show that significant CARE can occur while experiencing minimal cybersickness. Results are considered in the context of multiple theoretical explanations for CARE, including sensory rearrangement, adaptation, habituation, and postural control. 

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4. VR Sickness Adaptation With Ramped Optic Flow Transfers From Abstract To Realistic Environments

   https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.848001  

   Adhanom, Isayas; Halow, Savannah; Folmer, Eelke; MacNeilage, Paul (May 2022, Frontiers in Virtual Reality)

   VR sickness is a major concern for many users as VR continues its expansion towards widespread everyday use. VR sickness is thought to arise, at least in part, due to the user’s intolerance of conflict between the visually simulated self-motion and actual physical movement. Many mitigation strategies involve consistently modifying the visual stimulus to reduce its impact on the user, but this individualized approach can have drawbacks in terms of complexity of implementation and non-uniformity of user experience. This study presents a novel alternative approach that involves training the user to better tolerate the adverse stimulus by tapping into natural adaptive perceptual mechanisms. In this study, we recruited users with limited VR experience that reported susceptibility to VR sickness. Baseline sickness was measured as participants navigated a rich and naturalistic visual environment. Then, on successive days, participants were exposed to optic flow in a more abstract visual environment, and strength of the optic flow was successively increased by increasing the visual contrast of the scene, because strength of optic flow and the resulting vection are thought to be major causes of VR sickness. Sickness measures decreased on successive days, indicating that adaptation was successful. On the final day, participants were again exposed to the rich and naturalistic visual environment, and the adaptation was maintained, demonstrating that it is possible for adaptation to transfer from more abstract to richer and more naturalistic environments. These results demonstrate that gradual adaptation to increasing optic flow strength in well-controlled, abstract environments allows users to gradually reduce their susceptibility to sickness, thereby increasing VR accessibility for those prone to sickness. 

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5. EyeShadows: Peripheral Virtual Copies for Rapid Gaze Selection and Interaction

   https://doi.org/10.1109/VR58804.2024.00088  

   Orlosky, Jason; Liu, Chang; Sakamoto, Kenya; Sidenmark, Ludwig; Mansour, Adam (March 2024, 2024 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR))

   In eye-tracked augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), instantaneous and accurate hands-free selection of virtual elements is still a significant challenge. Though other methods that involve gaze-coupled head movements or hovering can improve selection times in comparison to methods like gaze-dwell, they are either not instantaneous or have difficulty ensuring that the user’s selection is deliberate. In this paper, we present EyeShadows, an eye gaze-based selection system that takes advantage of peripheral copies (shadows) of items that allow for quick selection and manipulation of an object or corresponding menus. This method is compatible with a variety of different selection tasks and controllable items, avoids the Midas touch problem, does not clutter the virtual environment, and is context sensitive. We have implemented and refined this selection tool for VR and AR, including testing with optical and video see-through (OST/VST) displays. Moreover, we demonstrate that this method can be used for a wide range of AR and VR applications, including manipulation of sliders or analog elements. We test its performance in VR against three other selection techniques, including dwell (baseline), an inertial reticle, and head-coupled selection. Results showed that selection with EyeShadows was significantly faster than dwell (baseline), outperforming in the select and search and select tasks by 29.8% and 15.7%, respectively, though error rates varied between tasks. 

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