Investigating Pseudoneglect across Distance with Pupillometry in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Pseudoneglect, a slight overall leftward attentional bias in healthy controls, has been investigated using varies methodologies. Research has shown that distances can modulate pseudoneglect. However, designing paper-and-pencil tasks at various distances is challenging，as it is not possible to implement a paper-and-pencil task without your hand reaching a paper. Virtual reality provides an opportunity to create a three-dimensional environment in order to present stimuli at different distances. We here developed a pupillometric test in a VR environment to examine pseudoneglect at four different distances (30cm, 70cm, 120cm, and 700cm). 34 healthy participants were instructed to complete a VR eye-tracking experiment where stimuli at each distance, participants were presented with a white/black or black/white display to elicit pupil light responses that have been proposed to capture pseudoneglect across depth. The findings did not demonstrate a significant leftward attention bias in healthy participants. Moreover, viewing distance did not influence the multitude of the leftward bias. Future studies are required to replicate current experiment using the VR eye-tracking technique.