Peripheral visual information and its effect on the perception of egocentric depth in virtual and augmented environments

A frequently observed problem in virtual environments is the underestimation of egocentric depth. This problem has been described numerous times and with widely varying degrees of severity. Though there has been considerable progress made in modifying observer behavior to compensate for these misperceptions, the question of why these errors exist is still an open issue. The study detailed in this document presents the preliminary findings of a large, between-subjects experiment (N=98) that attempts to identify and quantify the source of a pattern of adaptation and improved accuracy in the absence of explicit feedback found in Jones et al. [1].