Context effect on problem solving during a first immersion in a Virtual Environment

Virtual Reality is a technology supporting new forms of Human-Computer Inte raction. Direct manipulation of virtual objects may engage the user in a "v isuo-centered" context where perceptual information creates multiple afford ances, and physical laws can be modified. The research reported here tests the hypothesis that this new type of context would affect the cognitive pro cesses of an immersed subject. Problem-solving situations have been arrange d to trap subjects with salient but irrelevant perceptual information. The first experiment showed that immersed subjects fail to find a correct respo nse to an elementary problem usually proposed for children, in which a visu al trap is involved. The second experiment supported this result for elemen tary trapping problems presented in the auditory modality. These findings s how a dependency of reasoning as a function of the context in which it occu rs.