Spatial updating during locomotion does not eliminate viewpoint-dependent visual object processing

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether spatial updating during locomotion would eliminate viewpoint costs in visual object processing. Participants performed a sequential matching task for object identity or object handedness, using novel 3D objects displayed in a head-mounted display. To change the observed viewpoint of the object, both the orientation of the object in 3D space and the spatial position of the observer were manipulated independently. Participants were more accurate when the test view was the same as the learned view than when the views were different no matter whether the viewpoint change of the object was 50° or 90°. With 50° rotations, participants were more accurate when the test view was the same as the expected view (due to their own locomotion) than the two views were different, but performances were not different between expected and unexpected views when viewpoint change was 90°. These results indicate that spatial updating during locomotion occurs within a limited range of viewpoint differences, but that spatial updating did not eliminate the viewpoint costs in visual object processing.