Date of Award
12-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Human Centered Computing
Committee Chair/Advisor
Sophie Jorg
Committee Member
Andrew Robb
Committee Member
Guo Freeman
Committee Member
Nathan McNeese
Abstract
Virtual reality (VR) is a growing method of communication and play. Recent advances have enabled hand-tracking technologies for consumer VR headsets, allowing virtual hands to mimic a user's real hand movements in real-time. A growing number of users now utilize hand-tracking when using VR to manipulate objects or to create gestures when interacting with others. As VR grows as a tool and communication platform, it is important to understand how the rising prevalence of hand-tracking technology might affect users' experiences.
The goal of this dissertation is to investigate, through a series of experiments, how using hand motions in VR influences our experience when we communicate with others or interact with the environment. In our daily lives hand motions play a major role in interpersonal communication. Our hands can help emphasize or clarify our speech, or even supplement words entirely. When interacting with the world, hands are our primary tool for manipulating objects and performing dexterous tasks. Bringing these capabilities into VR, a space that has so far been lacking in such detailed expression and interaction, may have unexpected effects.
Overall, we show that using hand-tracking and hand motions in VR is beneficial to many metrics that are used to measure the quality of experiences in virtual environments. When using accurate hand motions, people feel more comfortable and embodied within their virtual avatars, or they feel more socially present. We recommend tracking and displaying hand motions in virtual environments if embodiment or communication are the most important criteria.
Recommended Citation
Adkins, Alex, "The Importance of Hand Motions for Communication and Interaction in Virtual Reality" (2022). All Dissertations. 3169.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/3169
Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0001-8759-8698