Dm. Johnson et Je. Stewart, Use of virtual environments for the acquisition of spatial knowledge: Comparison among different visual displays, MIL PSYCHOL, 11(2), 1999, pp. 129-148
This experiment investigated the effects of three visual display systems di
ffering in immersiveness: A wide field of view (FOV) 3-D helmet-mounted dis
play (HMD); a 3-D HMD with a narrow FOV; and a stationary, rear-projection,
wide screen display (WSD). Soldiers explored a virtual environment (VE) re
presenting an actual, unfamiliar heliport. Measures of spatial knowledge of
the heliport and presence were recorded. Pretest-posttest differences show
ed that exploration of the VE transferred to the actual heliport. Visual di
splay had no effect on spatial knowledge of the heliport or on presence. Me
asures of susceptibility to presence correlated with reported presence only
in the WSD condition. Results question popular notions about VEs, which as
sume that visual-spatial learning is more effective the more immersive the
visual display.