It is desirable to clarify the impact and necessity of detailed information in the image as the expression of CG and VR becomes closer to reality or 'hyper real'. In this research, the influence of Photographic Reality is examined. Although this has been investigated by various methods, the research focusing on cognitive processing are few in number. In this experiment, the subjects were observed at the action level so as to find out how they inquire about a real world by using the spatial representation in the VR environment. To accomplish this, two systems of interactive Virtual Campus were constructed using the panorama technology that is one of the techniques of VRML. In the first, a CG Environment was generated with CG having low Photographic Reality. In the other, a Photo Environment was generated with Photograph having high Photographic Reality. After going through these Virtual Campuses, the subjects were asked to identify checkpoints inside the Real Campus. The difference of spatial representation and inquiry strategy which the subjects cognized was clarified by studying the record of actions using protocol analysis. It is difficult to obtain effective information without a schema from Photo Environment. There is no Cognitive Load caused by detail information in the CG Environment, therefore, subjects easily grasp the structure and also can use an effective strategy in order to accomplish the task.
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