This work was supported by Australian Research Council grants DP160104211, DP190103474, and DP190103103.

WARNING: Electrical work should be performed by a qualified person.
1. Mechanical system setup procedure
<ol>
	<li>Attach the main pulley to the upper shaft of the swivel chair.
	<ol>
		<li>Remove the upper shaft. 
		NOTE: This typically involves placing the chair on its side and removing a pin at the base of the chair that prevents the upper shaft from sliding out of the lower shaft.</li>
		<li>Friction-fit the pulley to the shaft.
		<ol>
			<li>Use Vernier calipers to obtain the diameter of the shaft. Use a lathe to bore the pulley hole to match the diameter of the shaft.</li>
			<li>Create threaded holes for screws that will fix the pulley to the shaft. Drill additional holes in the hub of the pulley to make a total of 4, matching the diameter to that of the screws. Thread the holes using a tap so that screws can be used to fix the pulley to the shaft, matching the thread to that of the screws 
			NOTE: An ALTERNATIVE if creating a thread is not possible is to drill all the way through the hub of the pulley and the shaft of the chair, and run a bolt all the way through once the correct placement of the pulley has been determined (after step 1.4.6).</li>
			<li>Slide the pulley onto the chair shaft.</li>
			<li>Insert the screws loosely (tighten after the main and small pulleys are aligned).</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Place the drive belt loosely on the upper chair shaft (to be fit to the main and small pulleys later).</li>
		<li>Reattach the upper chair shaft to the chair base.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Attach the motor mount to the bottom shaft of the swivel chair.
	<ol>
		<li>Fabricate an adjustable clamp to which the motor mounting brackets can be attached.
		<ol>
			<li>Fabricate the two matching components of the clamp&#8211;one for each side of the shaft (to be squeezed together with four bolts). See Figure 2 for dimensions.</li>
			<li>For each component, cut the 90&#176; angle iron to length. Attach the 4 leaves through which the bolts will run.</li>
			<li>Round the edges of each leaf (metal bar) for safety. Drill holes near the end of each bar large enough for the bolts to fit through. Make a 45&#176; bend at the appropriate position (score the bar to make the bend more precise). Spot-weld each bar to the angle iron-bolt holes outwards. 
			NOTE: ALTERNATIVELY, the leaves may be bolted in place, being careful not to cause a protrusion that will prevent the angle iron from contacting the chair shaft.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Fabricate two motor mounting brackets. See Figure 3 for dimensions. For each bracket, drill two holes in the bar for attachment to the clamp just described. Bend 90&#176; at the appropriate position (score the bar to make the bend more precise).</li>
		<li>Attach the clamp and mount to the bottom shaft of the chair by inserting the 4 bolts through the clamp components and brackets and tightening. Ensure that the bolts are not too tight if the mount needs to be adjusted to accommodate the aligning process in step 1.4.6.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Attach the small pulley to the motor shaft.
	<ol>
		<li>Grind the key on the motor shaft flat (no longer protruding). 
		NOTE: This will provide a flat surface against which the pulley screw can be tightened to prevent slippage of the pulley around the motor shaft.</li>
		<li>Drill out the hole in the pulley to match the diameter of the motor shaft.</li>
		<li>Slide the pulley over the shaft and loosely tighten the screw against the flat surface on the shaft.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Attach the motor to the motor bracket described above.
	<ol>
		<li>Prepare each of the 4 motor attachment bars by drilling two holes in the appropriate positions (holes need to line up with the mounting holes in the motor). See Figure 4 for dimensions.</li>
		<li>If required for clearance, cut a section out of the upper of the two bars to allow the pulley on the motor shaft to rotate freely (optional).</li>
		<li>Place the four small cover attachment brackets over the four outer holes. Use them later to attach the protective cover over the belt and pulleys.</li>
		<li>Loosely attach the eight nuts and bolts, leaving room between the upper and lower bars to slide the mounting bracket bars between them.</li>
		<li>Slide the motor mounting bars onto the bracket-each upper bar above the mounting bracket bar and each lower one below.</li>
		<li>Position and clamp the motor.
		<ol>
			<li>Move the main pulley, the small pulley, or both up and down until the main and small pulleys are horizontally aligned. Move the clamp if required.</li>
			<li>Place the drive belt over the small and main pulleys.</li>
			<li>Slide the motor assembly away from the chair until the belt is tight.</li>
			<li>Tighten the 8 bolts on the motor attachment bars to secure the motor to the motor bracket.</li>
			<li>Tighten the clamp bolts and pulley screws.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Attach a cover to prevent anything from getting caught in the pulley/belt system.
	<ol>
		<li>Bend the sides of the acrylic protective cover as per Figure 5. 
		&#8203;NOTE: An ALTERNATIVE, if an acrylic bender is not available, is to use a metal sheet and sheet bender.</li>
		<li>Cut out a section to fit around the shaft of the chair as per Figure 5.</li>
		<li>Drill holes to match the holes on the small cover attachment brackets.</li>
		<li>Use the small cover attachment bolts to attach the cover.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
2. Electrical system setup procedure
<ol>
	<li>Connect the on/off switch and the emergency shut-off switch to mains power. Use appropriate voltage- and current-rated cables to attach the IEC connecter (male connector for the mains power cable) to the emergency shut-off and on/off switch in series (so that breaking the circuit with either one will cut power to the rest of the components). 
	NOTE: Soldering may be required.</li>
	<li>Connect the 5 V DC power supply for the Arduino to the on/off switch (optional). 
	NOTE: Soldering and mains rated cable required.</li>
	<li>Connect the 48 V DC power supply for the chair driver to the on/off switch in parallel to the 5 V power supply. 
	NOTE: Mains rated cable required.</li>
	<li>Make appropriate DIP switch settings for the Hybrid stepper motor driver. For example:
	<ol>
		<li>Set switches 1-4 to ON, OFF, ON, and ON, respectively, for 1,600 pulses per revolution for the stepper motor (the higher the number, the finer the control but the lower the cap on rotation speed depending on how quickly the Arduino can produce pulses).</li>
		<li>Switch 5 to OFF for the anticlockwise default rotation direction.</li>
		<li>Switch 6 to ON for drive Point Motion (PM) mode as opposed to space vector control mode (or Field-oriented Control, FOC).</li>
		<li>Set switches 7 and 8 to OFF and OFF to match the controller to the 86 series 12 NM closed-loop motor.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Connect the Hybrid stepper motor driver to the power supply and chair driver cables.
	<ol>
		<li>Attach appropriately rated cables from the 48 V power supply output terminals to the motor driver power input connector housing and insert the housing.</li>
		<li>Connect the two motor cables via their connector housings to the driver.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Connect the Arduino to the Hybrid stepper motor driver.
	<ol>
		<li>Use pinned jump wires to connect the PUL+ (&#34;pulse&#34; +), DIR+ (&#34;direction&#34; +), and ENA+ (&#34;enable&#34; +) terminals on the motor driver connector housing to pins 2, 3, and 5 (pin numbers optional but stated here as examples to be used throughout) on the Arduino.</li>
		<li>Use short wires to connect the PUL-, DIR-, and ENA- terminals of the motor driver connector housing and a longer pinned jump wire to connect ENA- to a GND (ground) pin on the Arduino.</li>
		<li>Insert connector housing into the motor driver.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Connect the Arduino to the 5 V DC power supply (optional). Use pinned jump wires to connect pins GND and Vin on the Arduino to the 5 V out terminals of the 5 V power supply.</li>
	<li>Connect the potentiometer to the Arduino. Use pinned jump wires to connect the A1 (an &#34;analog in&#34; terminal) GND and 5 V pins on the Arduino to the three terminals of the potentiometer. 
	NOTE: Soldering required.</li>
	<li>Connect the toggle switch to the Arduino. Connect pin 6 and GND on the Arduino to the two toggle switch terminals using pinned jump wires. 
	NOTE: Soldering required.</li>
	<li>Connect the LED to the Arduino.
	<ol>
		<li>Solder the resistor to one terminal of the LED (to drop the voltage on the LED circuit).</li>
		<li>Attach pins 7 and GND on the Arduino to the end of the resistor and the other LED terminal using pinned jump wires. 
		NOTE: Soldering required.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Insulate and house the electrical/electronic components. See Figure 6 for an image of a completed housed system. 
	NOTE: There are many ways to insulate the high voltage components of the electrical system, protect the fragile electronic components from damage, and contain all these components in a manageable space. Below is one suggested method.
	<ol>
		<li>Drill/cut holes in the side of the instrument case for the IEC power connector, the main on/off switch, the two motor control cables, the small toggle switch, the LED, the potentiometer, and the USB port of the Arduino (make this one large to allow air to flow into the case for cooling).</li>
		<li>Attach each of these components using the appropriate means (e.g., screws, bolts, hot glue gun).</li>
		<li>Cut ventilation holes (one above the fan in the 48 V power supply) and a hole for the emergency switch in the lid of the case; then, attach the ventilation filters and the switch.</li>
		<li>Attach the Arduino to the base of the case using spacers and screws. Position so that the USB port aligns with the USB port hole in the case.</li>
		<li>Attach the 48 V and 5 V power supplies and the motor driver to the base of the case using Velcro and foam blocks.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
3. VR setup procedure
<ol>
	<li>Set up the VR system as per the manufacturer&#39;s instructions.</li>
</ol>
4. Software setup procedure
<ol>
	<li>Install and set up the Arduino software.
	<ol>
		<li>Download and install the Arduino program as per the developer&#39;s instructions.</li>
		<li>Connect the Arduino to the computer using a USB cable.</li>
		<li>Under the Tools dropdown menu, select the port to which the Arduino board is attached.</li>
		<li>Under the same menu, select the appropriate board and processor. Make sure it matches the board and processor used in section 2 above, e.g., &#34;Arduino Mega 2560&#34; board and &#34;ATmega2560&#34; processor.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Program the Arduino board to allow rotation of the chair 1) by means of the potentiometer and 2) by means of commands from the computer via USB.
	<ol>
		<li>Write the code to be uploaded to the Arduino processor. 
		NOTE: Example code from the example experiment is included in Supplemental File 1 (filename: hybrid_motor_controller.ino).</li>
		<li>Take note of the baud rate (argument to the Serial.Begin() command), e.g., 9,600.</li>
		<li>Save the code and upload it to the Arduino board using the upload button.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Test that the system is working so far.
	<ol>
		<li>Plug in and turn on the Electrical subsystem.</li>
		<li>Flick the small toggle switch to a position where the small LED indicator light turns on.</li>
		<li>Turn the potentiometer to ensure that it controls the speed and direction of the chair.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Install and configure Steam and SteamVR as per the developer&#39;s instructions.</li>
	<li>Install and set up Unity.
	<ol>
		<li>Install and configure Unity as per the developer&#39;s instructions.</li>
		<li>Open a new or existing Unity project (choose a type, e.g., &#34;3D&#34; that is appropriate for the application).</li>
		<li>Set up SteamVR for use in the project.
		<ol>
			<li>Open the asset store (click on Window | Asset Store).</li>
			<li>Search for SteamVR and select SteamVR Plugin.</li>
			<li>Click Add to Assets.</li>
			<li>In Unity, open the Package Manager (click on Window | Package Manager).</li>
			<li>Find SteamVR under the My Assets tab.</li>
			<li>Click Import and follow the prompts to complete the import.</li>
			<li>Click Accept All if prompted to make configurational changes.</li>
			<li>Import the Steam VR Camera Rig into the scene. Look for a new Asset called Steam VR in the project window on the inspector screen. Open Steam VR | prefabs.</li>
			<li>Drag the [Camera Rig] asset into the hierarchy or scene window to allow the use of the VR headset and controllers in the game.</li>
			<li>Remove the default Main Camera from the hierarchy or scene as it will interfere with the SteamVR camera.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Install and set up Ardity.
	<ol>
		<li>Search for Ardity in the Unity Asset Store and select it for download (step 4.5.3.2 above).</li>
		<li>Update the API compatibility level.
		<ol>
			<li>Open Project Settings under the Edit menu.</li>
			<li>Click on Player | Other Settings.</li>
			<li>Choose .NET 4.X in the dropdown menu for API Compatibility Level.</li>
			<li>Exit Settings and wait for error messages to disappear.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Set up the Unity game environment. 
	NOTE: The following minimum steps will be required for the user to have control of the chair and have the chair motion integrated with their VR experience.
	<ol>
		<li>Create the objects and functions needed for the specific application.
		<ol>
			<li>Create objects by clicking on GameObject and selecting either 2D Object or 3D Object.</li>
			<li>Add functionality to the created object by clicking the Add Component button in the Inspector window for the object and selecting one of the options. Select New Script to create a C# script similar to the one in Supplemental File 3 (filename: SetUpTrial.cs).</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Import the Serial Controller script into the game.
		<ol>
			<li>Under the Assets folder in the Project window, open the Ardity folder | Scripts folder.</li>
			<li>Drag the SerialController script into the desired game object in the Heirarchy window, e.g., the Background game object.</li>
			<li>Click on the object and scroll down the list of components in the Inspector window to locate the SerialController script.</li>
			<li>Make sure the Port Name and Baud Rate match those for the Arduino program set in steps 4.1 and 4.2 above.</li>
			<li>Drag the object to which the SerialController script is attached from the hierarchy window into the input box next to Message Listener in the Inspector window.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Write and import the chair controller script into the game.
		<ol>
			<li>At the bottom of the Inspector window for the same game object, click on Add Component and select New Script. Name the new script ChairController.</li>
			<li>Write the code required to take controller and mouse commands and turn them into numbers to be sent via USB to the Arduino. 
			NOTE: A minimal example of the code required is included in Supplemental File 2 (filename: ChairController.cs).</li>
			<li>Save the script.</li>
			<li>Fill the empty boxes in the Inspector window. Drag the HMD object from the Hierarchy window into the input box next to Head under the Chair Controller script in the Inspector window. Similarly, drag the Controller (right) object into the box next to Hand.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
5. Experiment (or experience) procedure
<ol>
	<li>Select the input method. 
	NOTE: The provided example ChairController code refers to a script called SetUpTrial where the public integer variable inputType is set (where inputType 3 is VR controller, and inputType 4 is mouse). This script/variable arrangement has been assumed in the steps below.</li>
	<li>Click on the game object to which the SetUpTrial script is attached, e.g., Background.</li>
	<li>Scroll down in the Inspector window to find the SetUpTrial script public variables.</li>
	<li>Set inputType to 3 for VR controller or 4 for mouse control.</li>
	<li>Press the Play button in Unity to begin the VR experience with motion controlled by the controllers or the mouse.</li>
</ol>

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C., Cohen, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Controlling+the+Schaire+Internet+Chair+with+a+mobile+device.">Controlling the Schaire Internet Chair with a mobile device.</a> Proceedings CIT: The Fourth International Conference on Computer and Information Technology. , 215-220 (2004).</li><li>Ashiri, M., Lithgow, B., Mansouri, B., Moussavi, Z. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Comparison+between+vestibular+responses+to+a+physical+and+virtual+reality+rotating+chair.">Comparison between vestibular responses to a physical and virtual reality rotating chair.</a> Proceedings of the 11th Augmented Human International Conference. , (2020).</li><li>Koenig, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+new+multiaxis+rotating+chair+for+oculomotor+and+vestibular+function+testing+in+humans.">A new multiaxis rotating chair for oculomotor and vestibular function testing in humans.</a> Neuro-ophthalmology. 16 (3), 157-162 (1996).</li><li>Mowrey, D., Clayson, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Motion+sickness,+ginger,+and+psychophysics.">Motion sickness, ginger, and psychophysics.</a> The Lancet. 319 (8273), 655-657 (1982).</li><li>Sanmugananthan, P., Nguyen, N., Murphy, B., Hossieni, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Design+and+development+of+a+rotating+chair+to+measure+the+cervico-ocular+reflex.">Design and development of a rotating chair to measure the cervico-ocular reflex.</a> Cureus. 13 (10), 19099 (2021).</li><li>Gugenheimer, J., Wolf, D., Haas, G., Krebs, S., Rukzio, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=SwiVRChair:+a+motorized+swivel+chair+to+nudge+users'+orientation+for+360+degree+storytelling+in+virtual+reality.+1996-2000.">SwiVRChair: a motorized swivel chair to nudge users' orientation for 360 degree storytelling in virtual reality. 1996-2000.</a> Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. , (2016).</li><li>. Roto VR Chair Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rotovr.com/">https://www.rotovr.com/</a> (2021)</li><li>. Yaw Motion Simulator Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.yawvr.com/">https://www.yawvr.com/</a> (2021)</li><li>Warren, P. A., Rushton, S. K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Perception+of+object+trajectory:+Parsing+retinal+motion+into+self+and+object+movement+components.">Perception of object trajectory: Parsing retinal motion into self and object movement components.</a> Journal of Vision. 7 (11), 1-21 (2007).</li><li>Bonnen, K., Burge, J., Yates, J., Pillow, J., Cormack, L. K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Continuous+psychophysics:+Target-tracking+to+measure+visual+sensitivity.">Continuous psychophysics: Target-tracking to measure visual sensitivity.</a> Journal of Visualized Experiments: JoVE. (3), (2015).</li><li>. SimXperience Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.simxperience.com/">https://www.simxperience.com/</a> (2021)</li><li>Harris, L. R., Jenkin, M., Zikovitz, D. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Visual+and+non-visual+cues+in+the+perception+of+linear+self-motion.">Visual and non-visual cues in the perception of linear self-motion.</a> Experimental Brain Research. 135, 12-21 (2000).</li><li>. 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J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=MPI+motion+simulator:+development+and+analysis+of+a+novel+motion+simulator.">MPI motion simulator: development and analysis of a novel motion simulator.</a> Proceedings of the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit (AIAA 2007). , (2007).</li></ol>

There are no conflicts of interest.

This paper presents a method for adding automated rotation to an office chair under the control of an observer or experimenter, and an accompanying method for integrating that motion into a virtual experience. Critical steps include the mechanical attachment of the motor to the chair, setting up the power to and electrical control of the motor, then configuring the Arduino and computer to drive the motor controller. The mechanical attachment step requires some specialized equipment and skills, although workarounds have b...

Many cues combine under natural conditions to produce a sense of self-motion1. Producing such a sense is a goal in many recreational, health, and educational VR applications2,3,4,5, and simply understanding how cues combine to give a sense of self-motion has been a long-term endeavor of neuroscientists6,7,8,9,10,11. The three most important classes of cues for self-motion perception are visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive1. All three combine congruently during natural active movement in the real world to provide a robust and rich sense of self-motion. To understand the role of each class of cues and get a sense of how cues combine, researchers have traditionally deprived experimental observers of one or more cues and/or placed cues in conflict with one another1,12. For example, to provide rotational vestibular cues in the absence of proprioceptive cues, an observer can be rotated passively by a motorized chair13,14,15,16. Such passive motion has been shown to provide very convincing cues to self-motion17. Controlled visual cues provided by a VR headset can be congruent or incongruent with the chair motion or absent altogether. Proprioceptive cues can be added by having the observer rotate the chair under their own power, e.g., by pushing the chair around with their feet.
Presented here is a method for converting an office swivel chair into a medium for physically rotating the body of an observer and integrating that motion into a visual (and potentially auditory) virtual experience. The rotation of the chair can be under the control of the observer, a computer program, or another person such as the experimenter. Observer-controlled rotation can be passive by making the motor-driven rotation a function of the position of the observer&#39;s hand-held controller or active by turning the chair off and having the observer rotate the chair themselves.
Also presented is a psychophysical application for this chair/VR system. This example application highlights the usefulness of the controlled passive rotation of an observer in understanding how self-motion cues interact to produce overall perceptual experiences. The specific goal was to gain insight into a long-studied visual illusion&#8211;induced motion18,19. In induced motion, a stationary or moving target is perceptually &#34;repulsed&#34; away from a moving background. For example, if a red target dot moves vertically upwards against a field of blue dots moving to the right, the target dot will appear to move upwards, as expected, but also to the left, away from the direction of the moving background20,21. The aim was to test whether the repulsion is a result of interpreting the background motion as being caused by self-motion22,23.
If this is the case, then the addition of physical rotation that is consistent with the background visual motion should lead to a stronger sense that the background motion is due to self-rotation through a stationary environment. This, in turn, should lead to a greater tendency to subtract the background motion from the target motion to get target motion relative to the stationary world23. This increased tendency to subtract would result in greater perceived target repulsion. Physical self-rotation that was either consistent with or inconsistent with the background motion was added to test this. The system presented here allowed for the precise control of physical motion and corresponding visual motion to test this hypothesis. In the example, the chair motion was under the direct control of the observer using the VR system&#39;s hand-held controller.
Although there are many examples of motorized rotating chairs for various VR applications in the literature 24,25,26,27,28,29, the authors are unaware of a concise set of instructions for making such a chair and integrating it into an interactive VR experience. Limited instructions are available for the SwiVRChair29, which is similar in structure to the one presented here but that is designed with a different purpose in mind, that is, to be driven by a computer program to improve immersion in a VR environment, where chair movement can be overridden by the user by placing their feet on the ground. Given the expense of commercially available chairs30,31, making one &#34;in-house&#34; may be a more viable option for some researchers. For those in this situation, the protocol below should be of use.
System overview 
The protocol consists of instructions for converting an office chair into an electrically driven rotating chair and integrating the chair movement into a VR experience. The entire system, once complete, is composed of four parts: the mechanical, electrical, software, and VR subsystems. A photograph of the complete system is shown in Figure 1. The system shown was the one used in the example experiment.
The job of the mechanical subsystem is to physically rotate the upper shaft of a swivel chair via a motor. It consists of an office chair to which two things are attached: a pulley fixed to the upper rotating shaft of the office chair and an adjustable mounting frame attached to the lower fixed part of the shaft. An electric stepper motor is attached to the mount, which has a pulley attached to its shaft that lines up with the pulley on the upper shaft of the office chair. A belt couples the motor pulley to the chair pulley, allowing the motor to spin the chair.
The electrical subsystem provides power to the motor and allows the electronic control of the motor. It consists of a motor driver, a power supply for the motor, an Arduino board for interfacing the driver with a computer, and a power supply for the Arduino (optional). An Arduino board is a popular small board among hobbyists and professional makers of anything electronic, which contains a programmable microprocessor, controllers, input and output pins, and (in some models) a USB port (required here). All the electrical components are housed in a custom-modified electrically insulated box. As mains power is required for the transformer that provides power to the motor and for the (optional) Arduino power supply, and as the motor requires high operating voltages, all but the low-voltage electronic work (protocol steps 2.5 to 2.10 below) should be performed by a qualified individual.
The software subsystem consists of Arduino software for programming the Arduino, Unity software for creating the VR environment, Steam software for driving the VR system, and Ardity&#8211;a Unity plugin that allows Unity to communicate with the Arduino board. This software was installed on a Gygabyte Sabre 15WV8 laptop running Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise for the example experiment (Figure 1).
The VR system consists of a Head-mounted Display (HMD), a hand-held controller, and base stations for determining the position and orientation of the HMD and controller in space. The VR system used for this project was the HTC Vive Pro (Figure 1).
Described below is the procedure for combining these components to achieve a virtual experience that incorporates physical rotation (experiment or otherwise) with chair motion controlled by the observer via the hand-held controller or by the host/experimenter via a computer mouse or a potentiometer. The final part of the protocol consists of the steps necessary to initiate the VR experience. Note that the method for coding Unity to allow for trials and data collection is beyond the scope of this manuscript. Some steps, particularly for the mechanical subsystem, require certain workshop equipment and a certain level of skill. In principle, the presented methods can be adjusted to suit the availability of those resources. Alternatives are offered for some of the more technical steps.

<table><tbody><tr><td>48 V DC power supply (motor)</td><td>Meanwell</td><td>RSP-320-48</td><td>https://www.meanwellaustralia.com.au/products/rsp-320</td></tr><tr><td>5 V DC power supply (arduino)</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>MP3295</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/15w-5v-3a-enclosed-power-supply/p/MP3295?pos=5&amp;amp;queryId=dda344422ab16c6&lt;br/&gt; 7f558551ac0acbd40</td></tr><tr><td>Ardity plugin for Unity</td><td>Open Source</td><td></td><td>https://ardity.dwilches.com/</td></tr><tr><td>Arduino MEGA 2560</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>XC4420</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/duinotech-mega-2560-r3-board-for-arduino/p/XC4420?pos=2&amp;amp;queryId=901771805f4bf6e0&lt;br/&gt; ec31d41601d14dc3</td></tr><tr><td>Arduino software</td><td>Arduino</td><td></td><td>https://www.arduino.cc/en/software</td></tr><tr><td>Belt</td><td>Motion Dynamics</td><td>RFTB10010</td><td>Choose a size that suits the application. We used 60 tooth. https://www.motiondynamics.com.au/polyurethane-timing-belts-16mm-t-10/</td></tr><tr><td>Bracket bolts (holding motor)</td><td>The Fastner Factory</td><td>161260</td><td>x 4. https://www.thefastenerfactory.com.au/bolts-and-nuts/all-stainless-bolts/stainless-button-socket-head-cap-screws/stainless-steel-button-socket-head-cap-screw-m6-x-35mm-100pc</td></tr><tr><td>Bracket bolts (not holding motor)</td><td>The Fastner Factory</td><td>161258</td><td>x 4. https://www.thefastenerfactory.com.au/bolts-and-nuts/all-stainless-bolts/stainless-button-socket-head-cap-screws/stainless-steel-button-socket-head-cap-screw-m6-x-25mm-100pc</td></tr><tr><td>Clamp Angle Iron</td><td>Austral Wright Metals</td><td>50004813</td><td>x 2. https://www.australwright.com.au/products/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-bar-round-flat-angle-square/</td></tr><tr><td>Clamp bolts</td><td>The Fastner Factory</td><td>161265</td><td>x 4. https://www.thefastenerfactory.com.au/bolts-and-nuts/all-stainless-bolts/stainless-button-socket-head-cap-screws/stainless-steel-button-socket-head-cap-screw-m6-x-70mm-100pc&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>Clamp leaves (stainless flat bar)</td><td>Austral Wright Metals</td><td>50004687</td><td>x 8. https://www.australwright.com.au/products/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-bar-round-flat-angle-square/</td></tr><tr><td>Cover (acrylic)</td><td>Bunnings Warehouse</td><td>1010489</td><td>https://www.bunnings.com.au/suntuf-900-x-600-x-5mm-grey-acrylic-sheet_p1010489</td></tr><tr><td>Cover bolts/nuts</td><td>Bunnings Warehouse</td><td>247292</td><td>x 4. https://www.bunnings.com.au/pinnacle-m3-x-16mm-stainless-steel-hex-head-bolts-and-nuts-12-pack_p0247292</td></tr><tr><td>Cover brackets</td><td>Bunnings Warehouse</td><td>44061</td><td>x 4. https://www.bunnings.com.au/zenith-20mm-zinc-plated-angle-bracket-16-pack_p0044061</td></tr><tr><td>Emergency shut-off switch</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>SP0786</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/latching-emergency-stop-switch/p/SP0786?pos=1&amp;amp;queryId=5abe9876cf78dc3d&lt;br/&gt; d26b9067fbc36f74</td></tr><tr><td>Hybrid stepper motor and driver</td><td>Vevor</td><td>?</td><td>Closed Loop Stepper Motor Nema 34 12NM Servo Motor Hybrid Driver https://vevor.com.au/products/1712oz-in-nema34-closed-loop-stepper-motor-12nm-hybrid-servo-driver-hsc86-kit?variant=33058303311975</td></tr><tr><td>IEC mains power connector</td><td>RS components</td><td>811-7213</td><td>https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/iec-connectors/8117213</td></tr><tr><td>Instrument case (housing)</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>HB6381</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/abs-instrument-case-with-purge-valve-mpv2/p/HB6381</td></tr><tr><td>LED</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>ZD0205</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/green-10mm-led-100mcd-round-diffused/p/ZD0205?pos=11&amp;amp;queryId=e596cbd3d71e86&lt;br/&gt; 37ab9340cee51175e7&amp;amp;sort=&lt;br/&gt; relevance</td></tr><tr><td>Main pulley (chair)</td><td>Motion Dynamics</td><td>ALTP10020</td><td>Choose a size that suits the application. More teeth = slower rotation. We used 36 tooth. https://www.motiondynamics.com.au/timing-pulleys-t10-16mm.html</td></tr><tr><td>Motor attachment bars (Stainless flat bar)</td><td>Austral Wright Metals</td><td>50004687</td><td>x 4. https://www.australwright.com.au/products/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-bar-round-flat-angle-square/</td></tr><tr><td>Mounting brackets (stainless flat bar)</td><td>Austral Wright Metals</td><td>50004687</td><td>x 2. https://www.australwright.com.au/products/stainless-steel/stainless-steel-bar-round-flat-angle-square/</td></tr><tr><td>Nuts</td><td>The Fastner Factory</td><td>161989</td><td>x 12. https://www.thefastenerfactory.com.au/stainless-steel-hex-nylon-insert-lock-nut-m6-100pc</td></tr><tr><td>On/off switch</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>SK0982</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/dpdt-illuminated-rocker-large-red/p/SK0982?pos=4&amp;amp;queryId=88e0c5abfa682b74&lt;br/&gt; fa631c6d513abc73&amp;amp;sort=relevance</td></tr><tr><td>Potentiometer</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>RP8610</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/10k-ohm-logarithmic-a-single-gang-9mm-potentiometer/p/RP8610?pos=4&amp;amp;queryId=0d1510281ba100d&lt;br/&gt; 174b8e3d7f806a020</td></tr><tr><td>Pulley screws</td><td>The Fastner Factory</td><td>155856</td><td>x 5. https://www.thefastenerfactory.com.au/stainless-steel-hex-socket-head-cap-screw-m4-x-25mm-100pc</td></tr><tr><td>resistor 150 Ohm</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>RR2554</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/150-ohm-1-watt-carbon-film-resistors-pack-of-2/p/RR2554?pos=19&amp;amp;queryId=48c6317c73fd361&lt;br/&gt; a42c835398d282c4a&amp;amp;sort=&lt;br/&gt; relevance</td></tr><tr><td>Small pulley (motor)</td><td>Motion Dynamics</td><td>ALTP10020</td><td>Choose a size that suits the application. More teeth = faster rotation. We used 24 tooth. https://www.motiondynamics.com.au/timing-pulleys-t10-16mm.html</td></tr><tr><td>Small toggle switch</td><td>Jaycar</td><td>ST0555</td><td>https://www.jaycar.com.au/sealed-mini-toggle-switch/p/ST0555?pos=14&amp;amp;queryId=066b989a151d83&lt;br/&gt; 31885c6cec92fba517&amp;amp;sort=&lt;br/&gt; relevance</td></tr><tr><td>Steam software</td><td>Valve Corporation</td><td></td><td>https://store.steampowered.com/</td></tr><tr><td>SteamVR plugin for Steam</td><td>Valve Corporation</td><td></td><td>https://store.steampowered.com/app/250820/SteamVR/</td></tr><tr><td>Unity software</td><td>Unity Technologies</td><td></td><td>https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download</td></tr><tr><td>VR system</td><td>Scorptec</td><td>99HANW007-00</td><td>HTC Vive Pro with controllers and base stations. https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/gaming-peripherals/vr/72064-99hanw007-00?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5OuNBhCRARIsA&lt;br/&gt; CgaiqX8NjXZ9F6ilIpVmYEhhanm&lt;br/&gt; GA67xLzllk5EmjuG0gnhu4xmiE&lt;br/&gt; _RwSgaAhn8EALw_wcB</td></tr></tbody></table>

controlled rotation of human observers in a virtual reality environment

The low cost and availability of Virtual Reality (VR) systems have supported a recent acceleration of research into perception and behavior under more naturalistic, multisensory, and immersive conditions. One area of research that has particularly benefited from the use of VR systems is multisensory integration, for example, the integration of visual and vestibular cues to give rise to a sense of self-motion. For this reason, an accessible method for the controlled physical rotation of an observer in a virtual environment represents a useful innovation. This paper presents a method for automating the rotation of an office swivel chair along with a method for integrating that motion into a VR experience. Using an example experiment, it is demonstrated that the physical motion, thus produced, is integrated with the visual experience of an observer in a way consistent with expectations; high integration when the motion is congruent with the visual stimulus and low integration when the motion is incongruent.

The aim of the example experiment was to determine whether the addition of physical rotation&#8211;either congruent or incongruent with the visual background motion in a scene&#8211;affected the perceived direction of a moving target in that scene. A difference between congruent and incongruent physical motion was expected based on the hypothesis that the background motion affects the perceived target direction according to how readily the visual system of a participant assigns the cause of background motion to self-moti...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Controlled Rotation of Human Observers in a Virtual Reality Environment at JoVE.com

Controlled Rotation of Human Observers in a Virtual Reality Environment

The controlled physical rotation of a human observer is desirable for certain experimental, recreational, and educational applications. This paper outlines a method for converting an office swivel chair into a medium for controlled physical rotation in a virtual reality environment.

The low cost and availability of Virtual Reality (VR) systems have supported a recent acceleration of research into perception and behavior under more ...

controlled-rotation-human-observers-virtual-reality

Universidad de Cartagena UDEC

Research

JoVE Journal

Behavior

2.4K Views.  University of Western Australia. The controlled physical rotation of a human observer is desirable for certain experimental, recreational, and educational applications. This paper outlines a method for converting an office swivel chair into a medium for controlled physical rotation in a virtual reality environment.

Video: Controlled Rotation of Human Observers in a Virtual Reality Environment

Haptic/Graphic Rehabilitation: Integrating a Robot into a Virtual Environment Library and Applying it to Stroke Therapy

Recent research that tests interactive devices for prolonged therapy practice has revealed new prospects for robotics combined with graphical and other forms of biofeedback. Previous human-robot interactive systems have required different software commands to be implemented for each robot leading to unnecessary developmental overhead time each time a new system becomes available. For example, when a haptic/graphic virtual reality environment has been coded for one specific robot to provide haptic feedback, that specific robot would not be able to be traded for another robot without recoding the program. However, recent efforts in the open source community have proposed a wrapper class approach that can elicit nearly identical responses regardless of the robot used. The result can lead researchers across the globe to perform similar experiments using shared code. Therefore modular "switching out"of one robot for another would not affect development time. In this paper, we outline the successful creation and implementation of a wrapper class for one robot into the open-source H3DAPI, which integrates the software commands most commonly used by all robots.

Recently, a vast amount of prospects have come available for human-robot interactive systems. In this paper we outline the integration of a new robotic device with open source software that can rapidly make possible a library of interactive functionality. We then outline a clinical application for a neurorehabilitation application.

Recent research that tests interactive devices for prolonged therapy practice has revealed new prospects for robotics combined with graphical and other ...

Bioengineering

Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation

Studies investigating how people represent themselves and their own body often use variants of &#34;ownership illusions&#34;, such as the traditional rubber-hand illusion or the more recently discovered enfacement illusion. However, these examples require rather artificial experimental setups, in which the artificial effector needs to be stroked in synchrony with the participants&#39; real hand or face&#8212;a situation in which participants have no control over the stroking or the movements of their real or artificial effector. Here, we describe a technique to establish ownership illusions in a setup that is more realistic, more intuitive, and of presumably higher ecological validity. It allows creating the virtual-hand illusion by having participants control the movements of a virtual hand presented on a screen or in virtual space in front of them. If the virtual hand moves in synchrony with the participants&#39; own real hand, they tend to perceive the virtual hand as part of their own body. The technique also creates the virtual-face illusion by having participants control the movements of a virtual face in front of them, again with the effect that they tend to perceive the face as their own if it moves in synchrony with their real face. Studying the circumstances that illusions of this sort can be created, increased, or reduced provides important information about how people create and maintain representations of themselves.

Here, we describe virtual-hand and virtual-face illusion paradigms that can be used to study body-related self-perception/-representation. They have already been used in various studies to demonstrate that, under specific conditions, a virtual hand or face can be incorporated into one&#39;s body representation, suggesting that body representations are rather flexible.

Studies investigating how people represent themselves and their own body often use variants of &#34;ownership illusions&#34;, such as the traditional ...

Using Virtual Reality to Transfer Motor Skill Knowledge from One Hand to Another

As far as acquiring motor skills is concerned, training by voluntary physical movement is superior to all other forms of training (e.g. training by observation or passive movement of trainee&#39;s hands by a robotic device). This obviously presents a major challenge in the rehabilitation of a paretic limb since voluntary control of physical movement is limited. Here, we describe a novel training scheme we have developed that has the potential to circumvent this major challenge. We exploited the voluntary control of one hand and provided real-time movement-based manipulated sensory feedback as if the other hand is moving. Visual manipulation through virtual reality (VR) was combined with a device that yokes left-hand fingers to passively follow right-hand voluntary finger movements. In healthy subjects, we demonstrate enhanced within-session performance gains of a limb in the absence of voluntary physical training. Results in healthy subjects suggest that training with the unique VR setup might also be beneficial for patients with upper limb hemiparesis by exploiting the voluntary control of their healthy hand to improve rehabilitation of their affected hand.

We describe a novel virtual-reality based setup which exploits voluntary control of one hand to improve motor-skill performance in the other (non-trained) hand. This is achieved by providing real-time movement-based sensory feedback as if the non-trained hand is moving. This new approach may be used to enhance rehabilitation of patients with unilateral hemiparesis.

As far as acquiring motor skills is concerned, training by voluntary physical movement is superior to all other forms of training (e.g. training by ...

Measuring the Kinematics of Daily Living Movements with Motion Capture Systems in Virtual Reality

The inability to complete instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) is a precursor to various neuropsychological diseases. Questionnaire-based assessments of IADL are easy to use but prone to subjective bias. Here, we describe a novel virtual reality (VR) test to assess two complex IADL tasks: handling financial transactions and using public transportation. While a participant performs the tasks in a VR setting, a motion capture system traces the position and orientation of the dominant hand and head in a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. Kinematic raw data are collected and converted into &#39;kinematic performance measures,&#39; i.e., motion trajectory, moving distance, and time to completion. Motion trajectory is the path of a particular body part (e.g., dominant hand or head) in space. Moving distance refers to the total distance of the trajectory, and time to completion is how long it took to complete an IADL task. These kinematic measures could discriminate patients with cognitive impairment from healthy controls. The development of this kinematic measuring protocol allows detection of early IADL-related cognitive impairments.

We designed a virtual reality test to assess instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) with a motion capture system. We propose a detailed kinematic analysis to interpret the participant&#39;s various movements, including trajectory, moving distance, and time to completion to evaluate IADL capabilities.

The inability to complete instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) is a precursor to various neuropsychological diseases. Questionnaire-based ...

A Networked Desktop Virtual Reality Setup for Decision Science and Navigation Experiments with Multiple Participants

Investigating the interactions among multiple participants is a challenge for researchers from various disciplines, including the decision sciences and spatial cognition. With a local area network and dedicated software platform, experimenters can efficiently monitor the behavior of the participants that are simultaneously immersed in a desktop virtual environment and digitalize the collected data. These capabilities allow for experimental designs in spatial cognition and navigation research that would be difficult (if not impossible) to conduct in the real world. Possible experimental variations include stress during an evacuation, cooperative and competitive search tasks, and other contextual factors that may influence emergent crowd behavior. However, such a laboratory requires maintenance and strict protocols for data collection in a controlled setting. While the external validity of laboratory studies with human participants is sometimes questioned, a number of recent papers suggest that the correspondence between real and virtual environments may be sufficient for studying social behavior in terms of trajectories, hesitations, and spatial decisions. In this article, we describe a method for conducting experiments on decision-making and navigation with up to 36 participants in a networked desktop virtual reality setup (i.e., the Decision Science Laboratory or DeSciL). This experiment protocol can be adapted and applied by other researchers in order to set up a networked desktop virtual reality laboratory.

This paper describes a method for conducting multi-user experiments on decision-making and navigation using a networked computer laboratory.

Investigating the interactions among multiple participants is a challenge for researchers from various disciplines, including the decision sciences and ...

Virtual Reality Experiments with Physiological Measures

Virtual reality (VR) experiments are increasingly employed because of their internal and external validity compared to real-world observation and laboratory experiments, respectively. VR is especially useful for geographic visualizations and investigations of spatial behavior. In spatial behavior research, VR provides a platform for studying the relationship between navigation and physiological measures (e.g., skin conductance, heart rate, blood pressure). Specifically, physiological measures allow researchers to address novel questions and constrain previous theories of spatial abilities, strategies, and performance. For example, individual differences in navigation performance may be explained by the extent to which changes in arousal mediate the effects of task difficulty. However, the complexities in the design and implementation of VR experiments can distract experimenters from their primary research goals and introduce irregularities in data collection and analysis. To address these challenges, the Experiments in Virtual Environments (EVE) framework includes standardized modules such as participant training with the control interface, data collection using questionnaires, the synchronization of physiological measurements, and data storage. EVE also provides the necessary infrastructure for data management, visualization, and evaluation. The present paper describes a protocol that employs the EVE framework to conduct navigation experiments in VR with physiological sensors. The protocol lists the steps necessary for recruiting participants, attaching the physiological sensors, administering the experiment using EVE, and assessing the collected data with EVE evaluation tools. Overall, this protocol will facilitate future research by streamlining the design and implementation of VR experiments with physiological sensors.

Virtual reality (VR) experiments can be difficult to implement and require meticulous planning. This protocol describes a method for the design and implementation of VR experiments that collect physiological data from human participants. The Experiments in Virtual Environments (EVE) framework is employed to accelerate this process.

Virtual reality (VR) experiments are increasingly employed because of their internal and external validity compared to real-world observation and ...

Three Dimensional Vestibular Ocular Reflex Testing Using a Six Degrees of Freedom Motion Platform

The vestibular organ is a sensor that measures angular and linear accelerations with six degrees of freedom (6DF). Complete or partial defects in the vestibular organ results in mild to severe equilibrium problems, such as vertigo, dizziness, oscillopsia, gait unsteadiness nausea and/or vomiting. A good and frequently used measure to quantify gaze stabilization is the gain, which is defined as the magnitude of compensatory eye movements with respect to imposed head movements. To test vestibular function more fully one has to realize that 3D VOR ideally generates compensatory ocular rotations not only with a magnitude (gain) equal and opposite to the head rotation but also about an axis that is co-linear with the head rotation axis (alignment). Abnormal vestibular function thus results in changes in gain and changes in alignment of the 3D VOR response.
Here we describe a method to measure 3D VOR using whole body rotation on a 6DF motion platform. Although the method also allows testing translation VOR responses 1, we limit ourselves to a discussion of the method to measure 3D angular VOR. In addition, we restrict ourselves here to description of data collected in healthy subjects in response to angular sinusoidal and impulse stimulation.
Subjects are sitting upright and receive whole-body small amplitude sinusoidal and constant acceleration impulses. Sinusoidal stimuli (f = 1 Hz, A = 4&deg;) were delivered about the vertical axis and about axes in the horizontal plane varying between roll and pitch at increments of 22.5&deg; in azimuth. Impulses were delivered in yaw, roll and pitch and in the vertical canal planes. Eye movements were measured using the scleral search coil technique 2. Search coil signals were sampled at a frequency of 1 kHz.
The input-output ratio (gain) and misalignment (co-linearity) of the 3D VOR were calculated from the eye coil signals 3.
Gain and co-linearity of 3D VOR depended on the orientation of the stimulus axis. Systematic deviations were found in particular during horizontal axis stimulation. In the light the eye rotation axis was properly aligned with the stimulus axis at orientations 0&deg; and 90&deg; azimuth, but gradually deviated more and more towards 45&deg; azimuth.
The systematic deviations in misalignment for intermediate axes can be explained by a low gain for torsion (X-axis or roll-axis rotation) and a high gain for vertical eye movements (Y-axis or pitch-axis rotation (see Figure 2). Because intermediate axis stimulation leads a compensatory response based on vector summation of the individual eye rotation components, the net response axis will deviate because the gain for X- and Y-axis are different.
In darkness the gain of all eye rotation components had lower values. The result was that the misalignment in darkness and for impulses had different peaks and troughs than in the light: its minimum value was reached for pitch axis stimulation and its maximum for roll axis stimulation.
Case Presentation
Nine subjects participated in the experiment. All subjects gave their informed consent. The experimental procedure was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Erasmus University Medical Center and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki for research involving human subjects.
Six subjects served as controls. Three subjects had a unilateral vestibular impairment due to a vestibular schwannoma. The age of control subjects (six males and three females) ranged from 22 to 55 years. None of the controls had visual or vestibular complaints due to neurological, cardio vascular and ophthalmic disorders.
The age of the patients with schwannoma varied between 44 and 64 years (two males and one female). All schwannoma subjects were under medical surveillance and/or had received treatment by a multidisciplinary team consisting of an othorhinolaryngologist and a neurosurgeon of the Erasmus University Medical Center. Tested patients all had a right side vestibular schwannoma and underwent a wait and watch policy (Table 1; subjects N1-N3) after being diagnosed with vestibular schwannoma. Their tumors had been stabile for over 8-10 years on magnetic resonance imaging.

A method is described to measure three-dimensional vestibulo ocular reflexes (3D VOR) in humans using a six degrees of freedom (6DF) motion simulator. The gain and misalignment of the 3D angular VOR provide a direct measure of the quality of vestibular function. Representative data on healthy subjects are provided

The vestibular organ is a sensor that measures angular and linear accelerations with six degrees of freedom (6DF). Complete or partial defects in the ...

Neuroscience

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

The feeling that a body part is one&#8217;s own body (sense of ownership; SoO) and the feeling based on the causal relationship between one&#8217;s will and action (sense of agency; SoA) have been recognized as the basis of our bodily self-consciousness. Previously, the illusory SoO over a fake body part (e.g., rubber hand) was introduced as the rubber hand illusion (RHI). Furthermore, it was determined that one could also evoke a SoA over an object with movements linked to the one&#8217;s prior intention. On the other hand, the postdictivity of our spontaneity implies that it is essentially inseparable whether actions originate from self or others. In other words, our SoA or daily experiences are obtained in such as inseparable scenario. Previous research, however, has maintained the premise that self- and other-origin movements are perceptually distinguishable. Here, we implement a protocol to make these aspects ambiguous for the participants and to estimate whether they can feel SoO and/or SoA and how. To this end, we employ an experiment using virtual reality, under which participants observe virtual fingers moving very slowly (or quickly or not moving) while their own fingers do not move. For evaluation of the illusory SoO, measurements of skin conductance responses against a knife threat are adopted. Additionally, we introduce face-to-face interviews to determine whether the feelings regarding the slow movement match the conventional SoA definition. Our representative results suggest that the SoO is evoked over the hand, and various attitudes to accept its movement as the participant&#8217;s own with awareness that they did not originate it are reported by the majority. As the results show, the novelty of this protocol is discovering that in such a situation, the SoO cooperates with an externally produced SoA to establish one&#8217;s own bodily experience rather than the independence of the SoO and SoA.

While previous research on bodily self-consciousness assumed that self- and other-origin movements were perceptually distinguishable, this protocol allows them to be ambiguous on a virtual hand with unintentional slight movements. This enables us to observe one&#8217;s experience formed by SoO and other-produced SoA, rather than the absence of SoA.

The feeling that a body part is one&#8217;s own body (sense of ownership; SoO) and the feeling based on the causal relationship between one&#8217;s will ...

Virtual Prism Adaptation Therapy: Protocol for Validation in Healthy Adults

Hemispatial neglect is a common impairment after stroke. It is associated with poor functional and social outcomes. Therefore, an adequate intervention is imperative for the successful management of hemispatial neglect. However, the clinical use of various interventions is limited in real clinical practice. Prism adaptation therapy is one of the most evidence-based rehabilitation modalities to treat hemispatial neglect. To overcome any possible shortcoming that may occur with prism therapy, we developed a new system using immersive virtual reality and depth-sensing camera to create a virtual prism adaptation therapy (VPAT). To validate the VPAT system, we designed an experimental protocol investigating the behavioral errors and changes in cortical activation via the VPAT system. Cortical activation was measured by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The experiment consisted of four phases. All four included clicking, pointing or rest applied to right-handed healthy people. Clicking versus pointing was used for investigating the cortical region related with the gross motor task, and pointing with VPAT versus pointing without VPAT was used for investigating the cortical region associated with visuospatial perception. The preliminary results from four healthy participants showed that pointing errors by the VPAT system was similar to the conventional prism adaptation therapy. Further analysis with more participants and fNIRS data, as well as a study in patients with stroke may be required.

This experimental protocol demonstrates the use of virtual prism adaptation therapy (VPAT) in healthy adults and the association between VPAT and functional near infrared spectroscopy to determine the effect of VPAT on cortical activation. Results suggest that VPAT may be feasible and could induce similar behavioral adaptation as conventional prism adaptation therapy.

Hemispatial neglect is a common impairment after stroke. It is associated with poor functional and social outcomes. Therefore, an adequate intervention is ...

Medicine

Real-Time Recording and Mapping of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects

Three-Dimensional Mapping of the Rotation of Interactive Virtual Objects with Eye-Tracking Data

We present a method for real-time recording of human interaction with three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects. The approach consists of associating rotation data of the manipulated object with behavioral measures, such as eye tracking, to make better inferences about the underlying cognitive processes.
The task consists of displaying two identical models of the same 3D object (a molecule), presented on a computer screen: a rotating, interactive object (iObj) and a static, target object (tObj). Participants must rotate iObj using the mouse until they consider its orientation to be identical to that of tObj. The computer tracks all interaction data in real time. The participant&#39;s gaze data are also recorded using an eye tracker. The measurement frequency is 10 Hz on the computer and 60 Hz on the eye tracker.
The orientation data of iObj with respect to tObj are recorded in rotation quaternions. The gaze data are synchronized to the orientation of iObj and referenced using this same system. This method enables us to obtain the following visualizations of the human interaction process with iObj and tObj: (1) angular disparity synchronized with other time-dependent data; (2) 3D rotation trajectory inside what we decided to call a &#34;ball of rotations&#34;; (3) 3D fixation heatmap. All steps of the protocol have used free software, such as GNU Octave and Jmol, and all scripts are available as supplementary material.
With this approach, we can conduct detailed quantitative studies of the task-solving process involving mental or physical rotations, rather than only the outcome reached. It is possible to measure precisely how important each part of the 3D models is for the participant in solving tasks, and thus relate the models to relevant variables such as the characteristics of the objects, cognitive abilities of the individuals, and the characteristics of human-machine interface.

Author Spotlight: Insights into the Analysis of Human Interaction with 3D Virtual Objects

We have developed a simple, customizable, and efficient method for recording quantitative processual data from interactive spatial tasks and mapping these rotation data with eye-tracking data.