Abstract
As a means of basic research into perception in a virtual world, how weight is perceived in virtual space was quantitatively represented using an information theory. A comparison was made between the psychological sensation humans receive from computer-graphics-based colored balls and the sensation of physical weight they feel when they lift balls in the hands.
The difference in judgments of apparent weight of the CG representations and the sensation of weight of the balls physically held in the hands as they were being viewed was quantitatively represented in terms of the amount of transmitted information to perception. As a result, transmitted information on the sensation of weight for CGL judgment was 0.73 bit, whereas that for CGL&H judgment was 0.20 bit. Comparison of how weight is perceived in real space and virtual space, which was made on the basis of CGL judgment (0.73 bit), L judgment (0.43 bit) and I judgment (0.60 bit), showed that perception tended to be more ambiguous in virtual space than in real space. In other words, in virtual space, subjects didn't feel a clear difference in weight among the different colors. The same trend was observed for CGL&H judgment (0.20 bit), L&H judgment (0.12 bit) and I&H judgment (0.16 bit), under which subjects were also requested to physically hold balls in the hands.
It was thus suggested that it is possible to quantitatively represent judgments of weight in virtual space and that the sensation of weight of an object can be controlled by colors and luster, which can be applied to artificial reality technology.
