在没有物理反馈的情况下感知虚拟物体的属性
Sensing the properties of virtual objects without physical feedback
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中文总结 AI 辅助
研究在XR中无物理反馈时感知虚拟物体属性的问题，采用心理物理学方法，通过比较直接交互与仅观察条件下的恰可察觉差异，发现直接交互能让参与者更好感知分子物体刚性差异，为XR中感知虚拟物体属性提供新方法和见解。
中文摘要 AI 辅助
在扩展现实（XR）中与模拟世界和物体交互的人，常感觉能‘触摸’虚拟物体。触觉对感知物理世界至关重要，但在沉浸式数字环境中‘触摸’虚拟物体的意义尚不明晰。此前研究发现参与者在使用扩展现实中的交互式分子动力学（iMD-XR）时能主观‘感受’模拟分子物体属性。为更好理解这些感受，采用心理物理学方法量化参与者在iMD-XR中感知模拟分子物体（C₆₀分子）刚性差异的阈值。通过实验比较直接交互和仅观察两种条件下的恰可察觉差异（JNDs）。结果表明直接交互能让参与者感知更细微的11.5%的刚性差异，而仅观察为18.5%。先进行交互的参与者在后续仅观察条件下更能区分刚性差异，说明交互能训练参与者更好感知分子属性差异。这些发现展示了一种在XR中感知虚拟物体属性的新颖灵活方法，为iMD-XR在分子研究和教育中的潜力提供了新见解。
英文摘要
People who have interacted with simulated worlds and simulated objects in extended reality (XR) often have a sense that they can 'feel' the objects being simulated despite them not being physical. Our sense of touch is essential for how we 'feel' the physical world, however, there is an open question as to what it means to 'feel' virtual objects when interacting with them in immersive digital environments. In prior research, we have reported that participants often describe a subjective experience of 'feeling' the properties of simulated molecular objects while using interactive molecular dynamics in extended reality (iMD-XR), a field-based interaction paradigm for manipulating real-time simulations of molecular objects without haptic feedback. To better understand these subjective reports of 'feeling', we used a psychophysics approach to quantify the threshold at which participants perceive differences in the rigidity of simulated molecular objects (C$_{60}$ molecules) in iMD-XR. To evaluate this, we carried out experiments to compare the just-noticeable differences (JNDs) in two conditions: (1) via direct interaction with a real-time C$_{60}$ simulation, and (2) via observation-only$\unicode{x2013}$i.e. watching another person interacting with the simulations. Our findings show that direct interaction enabled participants to perceive more subtle rigidity differences of 11.5%, compared to 18.5% for observation-only. Furthermore, participants who undertook interaction first were better able to distinguish rigidity differences in the subsequent observation-only condition, suggesting that interaction trained participants to better perceive differences in molecular properties. These findings demonstrate a novel and flexible approach for sensing the properties of virtual objects in XR, and offer new insights into iMD-XR's potential in molecular research and education.
