SPATIAL ORIENTATION AS A COMPONENT OF PRESENCE - INSIGHTS GAINED FROMNONTERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

Spatial orientation is a substantial component of the sense of presenc e in real and virtual environments. Virtual environments have amazing versatility in terms of the possible modes of ''entering'' them, the p ositions occupants can take up within or in relation to them, and the ways virtual environments can be embedded within real ones. A virtual environment that differs too sharply in these respects from the normal terrestrial environment may challenge users' abilities to develop spa tial orientation and a sense of presence within it, and to acquire spa tial training that will transfer to real situations. We learned this f act while analyzing spatial orientation and presence in a variety of r eal experimental environments, including ones involving nonterrestrial gravitoinertial force backgrounds. One environment we investigated wa s ''microgravity,'' in which subjects can free float and be exposed to unique visual perspectives and patterns of touch and pressure cues on the body surface. A second was a rotating ''artificial gravity'' envi ronment embedded within the larger context of a stationary laboratory complex. Our observations emphasize visual, vestibular, and somestheti c cues in construction of spatial representations of familiar environm ents. However, we have found that multiple levels of such representati ons exist, which interact with larger spatial constructs. The cognitiv e map of an environment depends on its represented embedding within as sociated environments and the directionality of modes of access betwee n them. This dependency is reflected in the ''wrong door phenomenon'' that results when an individual enters a familiar environment from a n onfamiliar access position and becomes disoriented.