Visual and Somatosensory Integration With Higher Sitting Posture Enhances the Sense of Standing and Self-Motion in Seated VR

Users are often seated in the real environment, while their virtual avatars either remain standing stationary or move in virtual reality (VR). This creates posture inconsistencies between the real and virtual embodiment representations. The relationship between posture consistency in locomotion techniques and sense of presence in VR is still unclear. This study investigates how visual and somatosensory integration affects the sense of standing (SoSt) and the sense of self-motion (SoSm) when the sitting posture is varied slightly, including highlighting the importance of sitting posture for locomotion design in VR. The degree and occurrence of SoSt and SoSm were assessed by subjective experiments, and it was found that higher sitting and lower sitting postures present higher SoSt and lower SoSm, respectively. Invocation of SoSt also influences postural perception. Perception of travel distance varied according to the posture condition when identical visual flow was presented. The findings suggest that visual and somatosensory integration related to posture enhances SoSt and SoSm, and a sitting posture with a higher seating position is recommended in seated VR locomotion design.