Task Complexity and Presence in Immersive Virtual Enivronments

Abstract

This paper argues that task complexity, defined in terms of task products, required acts and information cues, determined the experience of presence in immersive virtual environments. Twenty-four subjects performed tasks at three complexity levels (low, moderate, high) in two virtual reality systems (partially-immersive desktop and fully immersive cube). Both objective performance and subjective presence measures were used. There was a highly significant effect of task complexity on the accuracy and time taken to complete the tasks. But there was no significant effect of the virtual reality systems on task performance and subjective presence. User curiosity and device usability may have confounded the measures. The benefits of geometric field of view and other perceptual cues in a cube should support task performance, but the complexity of tasks and the usability of input device reduced the intended benefits. This study has implications for design of tasks to be performed in virtual environments.

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