Immersion in Desktop Virtual Reality

This paper explores techniques for evaluating and improving immersion in Desktop Virtual Reality (VR). Three experiments are reported which extend findings on immersion in VR reported by Pausch et al. [9]. In the current experiments, a visual search paradigm was used to examine navigation in Desktop VR both with and without navigational aids. Pausch et al. found that non-head tracked users took significantly longer than predicted when the search target was absent, which was interpreted as indicative of a loss of sense of immersion. Our first experiment extended the Pausch et al. experiment to a desktop display. Our findings differ in that search times matched prediction when the target was absent, indicating that the Pausch et al. study does not transfer to Desktop VR. In the second and third experiments, our visual search task was performed while navigating a set of 3D hallways. We introduce a new navigation aid called Peripheral Lenses, intended to provide simulated peripheral vision. Informal studies suggested that Peripheral Lenses decrease search time, indicating an enhanced sense of immersion in Desktop VR. However, formal studies contradict that, demonstrating the importance of formal usability studies in the development of user interface software. We also gained evidence that visual attention findings transfer to Desktop VR.