14. 7. 2022
UP FAMNIT researchers prove that a week of working in virtual reality has a negative impact on people's productivity
A study involving researchers from UP FAMNIT shows that working in virtual reality (VR) has a significantly worse effect on people's productivity than working in a physical office environment.
Maheshya Weerasinghe, Klen Čopič Pucihar, and Matjaž Kljun from the Department of Information Science and Technology of UP FAMNIT, along with a research team consisting of Verena Biener, Snehanjali Kalamkar, Negar Nouri, Eyal Ofek, Michel Pahud, John J. Dudley, Jinghui Hu, Per Ola Kristensson, Stephan Streuber, and Jens Grubert, have produced important scientific findings that help lay the groundwork for further research by clearly identifying current shortcomings and suggesting ways to improve the work experience at VR.
The paper, "Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week," will be presented at IEEE ISMAR 2022 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Conference for Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) 2022) and published in the journal IEEE TVCG (IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics), which includes papers in computer graphics, information and scientific visualization, visual analytics, virtual and personalized reality, with an emphasis on theory and algorithms.
Our researchers' work has not only been published in the prestigious journal IEEE TVCG, but has also caught the attention of New Scientist magazine, the world's most popular weekly science and technology publication, which covers international news from a scientific perspective and asks big questions about life, the universe and what it means to be human.
"A new study shows that people who work full-time in a virtual reality environment have lower productivity, poorer well-being and more anxiety. The study shows that although companies like Microsoft and Facebook owner Meta are investing heavily in VR, the technology is not yet ready for widespread use in the workplace and some people may never be able to use it effectively," Matthew Sparkes summarizes for New Scientist.
Given the limitations of current technology and the fact that VR provides a virtual approximation of the real environment, the researchers did not expect that working in a VR environment would outperform working in a physical environment, which was confirmed by the results. Two participants dropped out of the study on the first day due to migraines, nausea, and anxiety. On the other hand, the results of the study suggest that participants gradually overcome the negative first impressions and initial discomfort, which may serve as a starting point for future optimization of VR systems.
Full article available here.
The IEEE ISMAR conference attracts world-leading researchers from academia and industry. This year's conference, the 21st in its series, will be held in a hybrid format for the first time in Southeast Asia, in Singapore, from October 17-21, 2022.
During the conference, two papers by researchers from UP FAMNIT will be published in the journal IEEE TVCG, in addition to the paper "Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week": "VocabulARy: Learning Vocabulary in AR Supported by Keyword Visualizations" (authors: Maheshya Werasinghe, Klen Čopič Pucihar, Verena Biener, Aaron Quigley, Alice Tonilo, Angela Miguel, Jens Grubert, Matjaž Kljun) and "Arigato: Effects of Adaptive Guidance on Engagement and Performance in Augmented Reality Learning Environments" (by Maheshya Werasinghe, Klen Čopič Pucihar, Aaron Quigley, Alice Tonilo, Angela Miguel, Matjaž Kljun).During the conference, two papers by researchers from UP FAMNIT will be published in the journal IEEE TVCG, in addition to the paper "Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week": "VocabulARy: Learning Vocabulary in AR Supported by Keyword Visualizations" (authors: Maheshya Werasinghe, Klen Čopič Pucihar, Verena Biener, Aaron Quigley, Alice Tonilo, Angela Miguel, Jens Grubert, Matjaž Kljun) and "Arigato: Effects of Adaptive Guidance on Engagement and Performance in Augmented Reality Learning Environments" (by Maheshya Werasinghe, Klen Čopič Pucihar, Aaron Quigley, Alice Tonilo, Angela Miguel, Matjaž Kljun).
We congratulate our researchers and other authors and wish them success in their future research!