Research On Personal Space Characteristics And Influencing Factors Based On Virtual Reality Technology

Personal space refers to the individual’s minimum space requirements,which will cause the individual’s discomfort when others invade.Combing the existing research on the personal space,we found that:(1)The measurement method of personal space regulation ability adopted by the researchers cannot exclude the influence of the Hawthorne effect;(2)The shrinking phenomenon of the personal space under the high population density environment is incompatible with the available space research conclusions;(3)Different researchers required participants to report different standards for personal space,neglected to consider the impact of judgment standards on the measurement results of personal space characteristics;(4)The data of personal space characteristics of contemporary Chinese children is lacking,and the influence of age on the characteristics of their personal space is unknown.Therefore,based on the phenomenon of shrinking the personal space in a high population density environment,this research will use virtual reality technology to simulate different population density environments,using the stop-distance paradigm to measure the size of the personal space under different judgment standards.The experimental paradigm of the size and regulation of the personal space reduces the impact of the Hawthorne effect with stricter experimental control.Afterwards,this study explored the effects of available space,personal space invasion,and social imitation on the characteristics of the personal space through a series of experiments to clarify the reason of the personal space shrinkage.Besides,this study carried out personal space characteristics measurement for college students and 7-9-year-old children to explore the influence of age on personal space characteristics.The main results of this study are as follows:1.Personal space characteristics in virtual environment.(1)The main effect of the number of virtual characters in the environment is significant,and the size of the personal space decreases with the increase of the number of virtual characters in the environment,indicating that the experimental paradigm can simultaneously measure the size and the regulation ability of personal space;(2)The judgment standard has a significant influence on the size of the personal space,and the influence on the regulation ability of the personal space has not reached a significant level.2.The influence of high population density environmental factors on the characteristics of personal space circle.(1)The main effect of the number of virtual boxes in the environment is not significant,and the size of the personal space does not decrease with the increase in the number of virtual boxes in the environment,indicating that the available space size is not the generating factor of personal space shrinkage.(2)There is no significant difference between the characteristics of the personal space circle under the control of the personal space intrusion scene and the uncontrolled scene,indicating that the high probability of the personal space invasion is not the generating factor of the personal space shrinkage.(3)There is no significant difference in the characteristics of the personal space under the different virtual character’s individual distance condition,indicating that social imitation is not the generating factor of the shrinkage phenomenon of the personal space.3.The influence of age on the characteristics of personal space.(1)The replacement of experimental equipment and the simplification of the experimental procedure have a significant impact on the size of the personal space,but the effect on the regulation ability of the personal space has not reached the significant level;indicating that the experimental adjustment for children makes the experimental paradigm still able to measure the size and regulation ability of the personal space.(2)The size of the personal space of 7-9 years old children is significantly larger than that of the college students,but their ability to regulate the personal space is not significantly different from that of the college students.The significance and innovation of this study:1.This study proposed an experimental paradigm that can simultaneously measure the size and regulation ability of an individual’s personal space in a more implicit manner,reducing the Hawthorne effect;2.This study excludes three possible factors that cause the shrinkage of the personal space in a high population density environment: available space,personal space invasion,and social imitation;3.This study provides researchers in the fields of engineering psychology,environmental psychology,developmental psychology,and other fields with personal space characteristic data of 7-9-year-old children in virtual reality environment.