RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Physical Body Orientation Impacts Virtual Navigation Experience and Performance
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0218-23.2023
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0218-23.2023
VO 10
IS 11
A1 Moon, Hyuk-June
A1 Wu, Hsin-Ping
A1 De Falco, Emanuela
A1 Blanke, Olaf
YR 2023
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/10/11/ENEURO.0218-23.2023.abstract
AB Most human navigation studies in MRI rely on virtual navigation. However, the necessary supine position in MRI makes it fundamentally different from daily ecological navigation. Nonetheless, until now, no study has assessed whether differences in physical body orientation (BO) affect participants’ experienced BO during virtual navigation. Here, combining an immersive virtual reality navigation task with subjective BO measures and implicit behavioral measures, we demonstrate that physical BO (either standing or supine) modulates experienced BO. Also, we show that standing upright BO is preferred during spatial navigation: participants were more likely to experience a standing BO and were better at spatial navigation when standing upright. Importantly, we report that showing a supine virtual agent reduces the conflict between the preferred BO and physical supine BO. Our study provides critical, but missing, information regarding experienced BO during virtual navigation, which should be considered cautiously when designing navigation studies, especially in MRI.