Enhancing Visual Exploration through Augmented Gaze: High Acceptance of Immersive Virtual Biking by Oldest Olds

Claudio de’Sperati (), Vittorio Dalmasso, Michela Moretti, Emil Rosenlund Høeg, Gabriel Baud-Bovy, Roberto Cozzi and Jacopo Ippolito
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Claudio de’Sperati: Laboratory of Action, Perception and Cognition, School of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Vittorio Dalmasso: Laboratory of Action, Perception and Cognition, School of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Michela Moretti: Laboratory of Action, Perception and Cognition, School of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Emil Rosenlund Høeg: Multisensory Experience Laboratory, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
Gabriel Baud-Bovy: Laboratory of Action, Perception and Cognition, School of Psychology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, 20132 Milan, Italy
Roberto Cozzi: RSA San Giuseppe, Associazione Monte Tabor, 20132 Milan, Italy
Jacopo Ippolito: RSA San Giuseppe, Associazione Monte Tabor, 20132 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: The diffusion of virtual reality applications dedicated to aging urges us to appraise its acceptance by target populations, especially the oldest olds. We investigated whether immersive virtual biking, and specifically a visuomotor manipulation aimed at improving visual exploration (augmented gaze), was well accepted by elders living in assisted residences. Twenty participants (mean age 89.8 years, five males) performed three 9 min virtual biking sessions pedalling on a cycle ergometer while wearing a Head-Mounted Display which immersed them inside a 360-degree pre-recorded biking video. In the second and third sessions, the relationship between horizontal head rotation and contingent visual shift was experimentally manipulated (augmented gaze), the visual shift being twice (gain = 2.0) or thrice (gain = 3.0) the amount of head rotation. User experience, motion sickness and visual exploration were measured. We found (i) very high user experience ratings, regardless of the gain; (ii) no effect of gain on motion sickness; and (iii) increased visual exploration (slope = +46%) and decreased head rotation (slope = −18%) with augmented gaze. The improvement in visual exploration capacity, coupled with the lack of intolerance signs, suggests that augmented gaze can be a valuable tool to improve the “visual usability” of certain virtual reality applications for elders, including the oldest olds.

Keywords: healthy aging; oldest old; assisted living facility; virtual reality; virtual biking; visual exploration; augmented gaze; motion sickness; technology acceptance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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