Effects of perspective elevation and environmental geometry on representation of a virtual room space

The present study investigated how perspective elevation and room geometry influenced mental representation of spatial layout in virtual rooms. One virtual rectangular and one virtual cylindrical room were constructed. Subjects observed the spatial layout on the floor from five perspectives along the vertical dimension of each virtual room. Then they judged the direction of objects with respect to egocentric and canonical coordinates. The analysis of spatial judgment indicated that judgment accuracy of vertical direction decreased as the perspective elevated, while global situation awareness was best maintained at the 45 degree elevation angle. The effect of perspective elevation on judgment of horizontal direction was only found in the rectangular room. Moreover, subjects judged the relative direction between objects more quickly in the cylindrical room than in the rectangular room. Applications of these findings to virtual environment design were discussed.