{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T16:32:34Z","timestamp":1753893154744,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]],"date-time":"2024-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722902400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Virtual Real."],"abstract":"<jats:p>According to previous research, humans are exceptionally skilled at distinguishing earth-congruent object trajectories from earth-discrepant ones. Inconsistent scale cues in Virtual Reality (VR), however, are shown to easily confuse VR users\u2019 scale, size, and distance estimations. This paper describes the results of two studies, with 40 participants each, which tested the effects of self-scaling, and size cues from active virtual characters, on perceived physics coherence (i.e., subjective realism). In the first study (Study A), a humanoid robot the size of a doll manipulated household objects to demonstrate their rigid body dynamics. The demonstration sequence was performed twice, once using a correct approximation of physics, and once using an incorrect one in which gravity was simulated similarly to as if the doll-sized robot was human-sized and the surrounding room was enlarged. The participants observed both demonstrations, once while standing at the normal scale and once at a reduced scale, similar to that of the humanoid robot. The second study (Study B) was similar, except that the virtual character demonstrating the physics was a regular-sized cat. Our preregistered hypotheses predicted that participants would consider the correct approximation of physics as better matching their expectations at normal scale, and the incorrect one as better matching their expectations at the reduced scale. However, only the second of these hypotheses was supported. According to our exploratory analyses, the participant\u2019s own scale was a poor predictor of physics preference, and instead there was a significant effect regarding the virtual character\u2019s identity. Participants observing the virtual cat were about eight times more likely to select the realistic physics model compared to those observing the humanoid robot. The results indicate that familiar cues tied to virtual character identity overrode any potential effects related to changes in the participants\u2019 own scale.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frvir.2024.1250618","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]],"date-time":"2024-08-06T04:47:44Z","timestamp":1722919664000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The cat is out of the bag: the effect of virtual characters and scale cues on physics coherence"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Matti","family":"Pouke","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sakaria","family":"Pouke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Evan G.","family":"Center","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alexis P.","family":"Chambers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Timo","family":"Ojala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Steven M.","family":"LaValle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"12846","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1306779110","article-title":"Illusory ownership of a virtual child body causes overestimation of object sizes and implicit attitude changes","volume":"110","author":"Banakou","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci."},{"key":"B2","first-page":"519","article-title":"Comparative evaluation of viewing and self-representation on passability affordances to a realistic sliding doorway in real and immersive virtual environments","author":"Bhargava","year":"2020"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"745","DOI":"10.1016\/s0097-8493(01)00117-0","article-title":"The magicbook: a transitional ar interface","volume":"25","author":"Billinghurst","year":"2001","journal-title":"Comput. Graph."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2267","DOI":"10.1109\/tvcg.2022.3150496","article-title":"Breaking plausibility without breaking presence-evidence for the multi-layer nature of plausibility","volume":"28","author":"Br\u00fcbach","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph."},{"key":"B5","first-page":"1","article-title":"Am i floating or not? sensitivity to eye height manipulations in hmd-based immersive virtual environments","author":"Deng","year":"2019"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/frvir.2020.00002","article-title":"The role of plausibility in the experience of spatial presence in virtual environments","volume":"2","author":"Hofer","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Virtual Real."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2017.00203","article-title":"Gravity as a strong prior: implications for perception and action","volume":"11","author":"J\u00f6rges","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"B8","first-page":"153","article-title":"Dwarf or giant: the influence of interpupillary distance and eye height on size perception in virtual environments","author":"Kim","year":"2017"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1109\/VR.2006.47","article-title":"Design and evaluation of navigation techniques for multiscale virtual environments","volume-title":"Ieee virtual reality conference (vr 2006)","author":"Kopper","year":"2006"},{"key":"B10","first-page":"243","article-title":"Gullivr: a walking-oriented technique for navigation in virtual reality games based on virtual body resizing","author":"Krekhov","year":"2018"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1109\/3DUI.2016.7460054","article-title":"Scale matters! analysis of dominant scale estimation in the presence of conflicting cues in multi-scale collaborative virtual environments","volume-title":"2016 IEEE symposium on 3D user interfaces (3DUI)","author":"Langbehn","year":"2016"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2020.00076","article-title":"Visuomotor interactions and perceptual judgments in virtual reality simulating different levels of gravity","volume":"8","author":"La Scaleia","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol."},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1318","DOI":"10.1177\/0956797610380700","article-title":"Illusory shrinkage and growth: body-based rescaling affects the perception of size","volume":"21","author":"Linkenauger","year":"2010","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"B14","first-page":"1","article-title":"The influence of body orientation relative to gravity on egocentric distance estimates in virtual reality","author":"Martin Calderon","year":"2022"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"693","DOI":"10.1038\/89477","article-title":"Does the brain model Newton\u2019s laws?","volume":"4","author":"McIntyre","year":"2001","journal-title":"Nat. Neurosci."},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3803","DOI":"10.1007\/s00221-014-4050-6","article-title":"Familiar trajectories facilitate the interpretation of physical forces when intercepting a moving target","volume":"232","author":"Mijatovi\u0107","year":"2014","journal-title":"Exp. brain Res."},{"key":"B17","first-page":"847","article-title":"Improving perception and understanding of nanoscale phenomena using haptics and visual analogy","author":"Millet","year":"2008"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2457202023","DOI":"10.1523\/jneurosci.2457-20.2023","article-title":"Modality-independent effect of gravity in shaping the internal representation of 3d space for visual and haptic object perception","volume":"44","author":"Morfoisse","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Neurosci."},{"key":"B19","first-page":"227","article-title":"Virtual objects look farther on the sides: the anisotropy of distance perception in virtual reality","author":"Peillard","year":"2019"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2974","DOI":"10.1109\/tvcg.2018.2868594","article-title":"Superman vs giant: a study on spatial perception for a multi-scale mixed reality flying telepresence interface","volume":"24","author":"Piumsomboon","year":"","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph."},{"key":"B21","first-page":"1","article-title":"Mini-me: an adaptive avatar for mixed reality remote collaboration","author":"Piumsomboon","year":""},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/frvir.2022.869603","article-title":"The body scaling effect and its impact on physics plausibility","volume":"3","author":"Pouke","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Virtual Real."},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.3389\/frvir.2021.655744","article-title":"The plausibility paradox for resized users in virtual environments","volume":"2","author":"Pouke","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Virtual Real."},{"key":"B24","first-page":"913","article-title":"The plausibility paradox for scaled-down users in virtual environments","author":"Pouke","year":"2020"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3643849","article-title":"Adaptation to simulated hypergravity in a virtual reality throwing task","volume":"21","author":"Pouke","year":"2024","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Appl. Percept."},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/2543581.2543590","article-title":"The perception of egocentric distances in virtual environments-a review","volume":"46","author":"Renner","year":"2013","journal-title":"ACM Comput. Surv. (CSUR)"},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4471","DOI":"10.1152\/jn.00527.2005","article-title":"Anticipating the effects of gravity when intercepting moving objects: differentiating up and down based on nonvisual cues","volume":"94","author":"Senot","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Neurophysiology"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1109\/mra.2007.339606","article-title":"Microscale and nanoscale robotics systems [grand challenges of robotics]","volume":"14","author":"Sitti","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Robotics Automation Mag."},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3134301","article-title":"A survey of presence and related concepts","volume":"50","author":"Skarbez","year":"2017","journal-title":"ACM Comput. Surv. (CSUR)"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3839","DOI":"10.1109\/tvcg.2020.2983701","article-title":"Immersion and coherence: research agenda and early results","volume":"27","author":"Skarbez","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph."},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3549","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2009.0138","article-title":"Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments","volume":"364","author":"Slater","year":"2009","journal-title":"Philosophical Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci."},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"914392","DOI":"10.3389\/frvir.2022.914392","article-title":"A separate reality: an update on place illusion and plausibility in virtual reality","volume":"3","author":"Slater","year":"2022","journal-title":"Virtual Real"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"130","DOI":"10.1162\/pres.1994.3.2.130","article-title":"Depth of presence in virtual environments","volume":"3","author":"Slater","year":"1994","journal-title":"Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ."},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2020.00004","article-title":"Virtual reality is sexist: but it does not have to be","volume":"7","author":"Stanney","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Robotics AI"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"649","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2017.05.012","article-title":"Mind games: game engines as an architecture for intuitive physics","volume":"21","author":"Ullman","year":"2017","journal-title":"Trends cognitive Sci."},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1162\/105474600566989","article-title":"Using presence questionnaires in reality","volume":"9","author":"Usoh","year":"2000","journal-title":"Presence"},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"34530","DOI":"10.1038\/srep34530","article-title":"Illusions of having small or large invisible bodies influence visual perception of object size","volume":"6","author":"Van Der Hoort","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e20195","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0020195","article-title":"Being barbie: the size of one\u2019s own body determines the perceived size of the world","volume":"6","author":"Van Der Hoort","year":"2011","journal-title":"PloS one"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"385","DOI":"10.1007\/s10055-019-00402-z","article-title":"Body size illusions influence perceived size of objects: a validation of previous research in virtual reality","volume":"24","author":"Weber","year":"2020","journal-title":"Virtual Real."},{"key":"B40","first-page":"325","article-title":"An experiment on length perception with a virtual rolling stone","author":"Yao","year":"2006","journal-title":"Proc. Eurohaptics"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3385959.3422697","article-title":"Spatial scale perception for design tasks in virtual reality","author":"Zhang","year":"","journal-title":"Symposium Spatial User Interact."},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3334480.3382876","article-title":"Exploring spatial scale perception in immersive virtual reality for risk assessment in interior design","author":"Zhang","year":"","journal-title":"Ext. Abstr. 2020 CHI Conf. Hum. Factors Comput. Syst."},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1162\/1054746053890288","article-title":"mcves: using cross-scale collaboration to support user interaction with multiscale structures","volume":"14","author":"Zhang","year":"2005","journal-title":"Presence"},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1117\/12.403703","article-title":"Virtual environment for operations in the microworld","volume":"4194","author":"Zhou","year":"2000","journal-title":"Microrobotics Microassembly II Int. Soc. Opt. Phot."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Virtual Reality"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frvir.2024.1250618\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,19]],"date-time":"2024-08-19T10:03:37Z","timestamp":1724061817000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frvir.2024.1250618\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]]},"references-count":44,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frvir.2024.1250618"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frvir.2024.1250618","relation":{},"ISSN":["2673-4192"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2673-4192"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,6]]},"article-number":"1250618"}}