9/5/2024 Andrew McAvan: An Exploration of (Im)possible Non-Euclidean Space in Virtual Reality
CCN Brown Bag
Andrew McAvan
Graduate Student
McNamara Lab
Date: Thursday, September 5, 2024
Time: 12:10PM-1:00PM
Location: 316 Wilson Hall
An Exploration of (Im)possible Non-Euclidean Space in Virtual Reality
In computer science, “defensive design” is the philosophy of creating robust programs through rigorous testing, with one of the key elements being the attempt at “breaking” one’s own program by presenting it with unexpected behaviors. Doing so facilitates the discovery of deleterious edge-cases in code that may have not been considered during the initial stages of programing. Now, what if we were able to apply this logic to the human brain? Naturally, we cannot create real-world paradigms that conflict with universal laws, but through fully immersive virtual reality, we can create novel spaces that violate some of the most fundamental aspects of our universe (namely, the geometric properties of space). Here I will explore some previous works on non-Euclidean VR spaces and present the findings from my experiment wherein participants are subjected to one of two fully immersive VR spaces –possible or impossible—and tested on their perception/representation of said space.
Questions? Contact Isabel Gauthier