Impact of Starting Position on Decision-Making in Virtual Reality

Valentina Gorobets, Mathieu Lutfallah, Khashayar Ilbegi Teymouri, Andreas Kunz

2025

Abstract

Few studies have explored how a user’s initial starting position or physical obstacles in reality affect decision-making in virtual reality (VR), particularly when natural walking is used for locomotion. In this paper, we examine how the starting position in the real world influences walking path decisions in VR. 24 participants were positioned next to a physical wall before putting on a VR headset and then asked to walk through a narrow virtual corridor, making a left or right turn at a decision point. To ensure safety, we employed redirected walking techniques to subtly steer participants away from the real wall. Our results indicate that users remain aware of their physical starting position, influencing their directional choices in VR.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Gorobets V., Lutfallah M., Teymouri K. and Kunz A. (2025). Impact of Starting Position on Decision-Making in Virtual Reality. In Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-728-3, SciTePress, pages 604-610. DOI: 10.5220/0013180800003912

in Bibtex Style

@conference{hucapp25,
author={Valentina Gorobets and Mathieu Lutfallah and Khashayar Teymouri and Andreas Kunz},
title={Impact of Starting Position on Decision-Making in Virtual Reality},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP},
year={2025},
pages={604-610},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013180800003912},
isbn={978-989-758-728-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP
TI - Impact of Starting Position on Decision-Making in Virtual Reality
SN - 978-989-758-728-3
AU - Gorobets V.
AU - Lutfallah M.
AU - Teymouri K.
AU - Kunz A.
PY - 2025
SP - 604
EP - 610
DO - 10.5220/0013180800003912
PB - SciTePress