  While user's perception & performance are predominantly examined
independently in virtual reality, the Action-Specific Perception (ASP) theory
postulates that the performance of an individual on a task modulates this
individual's spatial & time perception pertinent to the task's components &
procedures. This paper examines the association between performance &
perception & the potential effects that tactile feedback modalities could
generate. This paper reports a user study (N=24), in which participants
performed a Fitts's law target acquisition task by using three feedback
modalities: visual, visuo-electrotactile, & visuo-vibrotactile. The users
completed 3 Target Sizes X 2 Distances X 3 feedback modalities = 18 trials. The
size perception, distance perception, & (movement) time perception were
assessed at the end of each trial. Performance-wise, the results showed that
electrotactile feedback facilitates a significantly better accuracy compared to
vibrotactile & visual feedback, while vibrotactile provided the worst accuracy.
Electrotactile & visual feedback enabled a comparable reaction time, while the
vibrotactile offered a substantially slower reaction time than visual feedback.
Although amongst feedback types the pattern of differences in perceptual
aspects were comparable to performance differences, none of them was
statistically significant. However, performance indeed modulated perception.
Significant action-specific effects on spatial & time perception were detected.
Changes in accuracy modulate both size perception & time perception, while
changes in movement speed modulate distance perception. Also, the index of
difficulty was found to modulate perception. These outcomes highlighted the
importance of haptic feedback on performance, & importantly the significance of
action-specific effects on spatial & time perception in VR, which should be
considered in future VR studies.
