Download Perception of virtual 3D objects in peripersonal space and its

Perception of virtual 3D objects in peripersonal space and its potential modulation by embodied
processing and social context. (In collaboration with Prof Tim Meese)
Supervisor: Prof Klaus Kessler
We invite applications from students interested in using Virtual Reality (VR) to tackle research
questions in social cognitive psychology and visual perception. Students are welcome to contact me
with their own ideas in this domain; in the following we sketch out a project idea that could be the
basis for a PhD application. Currently, there are funding opportunities available to conduct a PhD while
being a part-time graduate teaching assistant (GTA) in Psychology. The PhD duration would be a
maximum of 6 years in this case. Hence, we encourage applications from students who would consider
this pathway for doing their PhD. In order to be eligible for this option, the candidate must have a
psychology degree (students with other degrees are welcome to contact me about other funding
options). Some background or aptitude (with evidence) for: computer programming, an interest in VR
(e.g. with gaming engines such as Unreal®), stereovision/depth perception, and/or experimental
experience with peripersonal space is desirable. Strong experimental skills are essential.
We aim to understand more about the characteristics of peripersonal space from an embodied
viewpoint of both social perception and visual perception, using psychological, psychophysical and,
possibly, electrophysiological techniques. Specifically, we are interested in claims that embodied and
social influences are able to distort the perception of distance around an experimental participant.
With respect to embodied influences, evidence is gathering that that the observer’s perception of
their own body size directly impacts on their perception of the environment (van der Hoort et al.,
2011. We are therefore interested in how the peripersonal space and its effect on object/depth
perception might be modulated by the action radius of the observer as well as by the presence of ‘coobservers’ that might extend, shrink or distort the peripersonal space and therefore object/depth
perception.
Such claims, if true, have powerful implications for the details of: (i) how the brain builds
representation of 3-space and (ii) the transmission of information around the cortex. However, the
possibility remains that the distortions reside, not in visual representations (basic mechanistic brain
processes), but in the reports of the participants (high level cognitive processes). Part of the challenge
then, is to develop objective psychophysical methods that are able to bypass the (bias prone)
subjective evaluations that are often found in studies of this kind. Fortunately, in the right hands,
psychophysics is well equipped to do exactly that. In general, this topic is under-researched in VR (but
see Naceri et al., 2011) and in depth perception.
The new CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) within the Aston Laboratory of Virtual
Environments (ALIVE) provides a unique opportunity for conducting this research in a controlled VR
environment that is not merely a head mounted display.
Naceri, A., Chellali, R., & Hoinville, T. (2011). Depth perception within peripersonal space using headmounted display. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 20(3), 254-272.
van der Hoort, B., Guterstam, A., & Ehrsson, H. H. (2011). Being Barbie: the size of one’s own body
determines the perceived size of the world. PloS one, 6(5), e20195.