Study of Human Behavioral Characteristics: Using Virtual Reality to Analyze Behavior of Following Moving Objects

Abstract

It is crucial to model the physical world for simulation in which various phenomena are represented on a computer. In the case of simulation involving human actions, it is necessary to model not only physical phenomena but also human behaviors. However, there are still many unclear things about human behaviors. In this study, to clarify these behavioral characteristics, we verified two hypotheses using virtual reality. One was that ''people follow moving objects similar to humans in shape,'' and the other was that ''people follow the route with the majority of other objects.'' We tested these hypotheses by conducting two experiments allowing participants to select a route in a virtual maze in which objects were moving under certain rules. The results showed that people tend to follow moving objects regardless of their appearances, and also tend to follow the majority.