The project is supported by Monash Joint Faculty of Arts & Faculty of I.T. Small Grants (2005 $10,000). Past research has had subjects use a joystick to actively explore virtual reality environments, undertaking tasks such as recalling objects seen along the way.
The changing visual scene corresponding to the active subject’s exploration was replayed for passive subjects who generally perform worse than their active counterparts. However, passive subjects were restricted to visual information, while active subjects had haptic information via the joystick along with visual information.
We will examine the performance of properly matched passive participants. The results will impact telesurgery, remote machinery operation and training or guiding learners using virtual reality – areas in which we are currently researching.