Peripersonal Space in Virtual Reality (UIST ’16 Adjunct)

In Peripersonal Space in Virtual Reality: Navigating 3D Space with Different Perspectives (UIST ’16 Adjunct), we introduced the notion of an avatar’s peripersonal space—near-body regions around the avatar—as a key design variable in VR interaction.

Using eye-tracking data and controlled VR navigation tasks, we showed that first- and third-person perspectives produce different patterns of visual attention and perceptual scope within 3D environments. These differences inform how designers should position tools, information, and navigation aids relative to the avatar’s body.

The paper proposed concrete guidelines for organizing interaction zones and navigation aids around the body. Subsequent VR and teleoperation research has cited this work as a conceptual and visual reference for structuring personal, peripersonal, and extrapersonal spaces in spatial interfaces.