Not Seeing Eye to Eye: The Effects of Perceptual Conflicts During Social Interactions in Mixed Reality
Abstract
Not all cues in immersive virtual environments are consistent with physical-world expectations, but can be transformed, resulting in different perceived versions of the world for simultaneous users. Such perceptual conflicts may disrupt communication. In this study, dyads (n = 104 participants, 52 dyads) sat face-to-face while wearing mixed reality headsets and memorized a set of nine virtual objects varying in shape and color. In the first trial, both members saw identical arrangements. In the second trial, they saw a new set of virtual objects. This time, either one or two pairs of virtual objects swapped positions, so each member saw a different arrangement. After each trial, members discussed their observations and agreed on a final recalled set. Results showed that when the discrepancy was greater, participants demonstrated less nonverbal synchrony with their dyad partner, made more changes from individual to collaborative recall, and reported feeling greater cognitive load. While there was no effect of the manipulation on participants’ confidence in self or partner’s recall, when the discrepancy was greater, participants felt less confident in their collaborative recall and less willing to submit their collaborative response. The manipulation did not affect trust in partners or the technology. This study offers an initial examination of perceptual conflict, with implications for how technologies designed to foster collaboration and intergroup relations may inadvertently undermine these goals when users’ perceptual experiences diverge and reaching a shared understanding is disrupted.