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Abstract

Despite amazing advances in the visual quality of virtual environ-ments, affordable-yet-effective self-motion simulation still poses a major challenge. Using a standard psychophysical paradigm, the effectiveness of different self-motion simulations was quantified in terms of the onset latency, intensity, and convincingness of the per-ceived illusory self motion (vection). Participants were asked to actively follow different pre-defined trajectories through a naturalistic virtual scene presented on a panoramic projection screen using three different input devices: a computer mouse, a joystick, or a modified manual wheelchair. For the wheelchair, participants exerted their own minimal motion cueing using a simple force-feedback and a velocity control paradigm: small translational or rotational motions of the wheelchair (limited to 8cm and 10°, re-spectively) initiated a corresponding visual motion with the visual velocity being proportional to the wheelchair deflection (similar to a joystick). All dependent measures showed a clear enhancement of the perceived self-motion when the wheelchair was used instead of the mouse or joystick. Compared to more traditional approaches of enhancing self-motion perception (e.g., motion platforms, free walking areas, or treadmills) the current approach of using a simple user-generated motion cueing has only minimal requirements in terms of overall costs, required space, safety features, and technical effort and expertise. Thus, the current approach might be promising for a wide range of low-cost applications.