Effects of prior knowledge on gaze behavior and texture perception in virtual reality

Effects of prior knowledge on gaze behavior and texture perception in virtual reality | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Effects of prior knowledge on gaze behavior and texture perception in virtual reality Hyunsoo Shin, Seungmin Jeon, Hyogyeom Kim, Akira Asano, Liang Li, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9445234/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract When humans observe objects, they rely on multiple sources of visual information such as depth information, structural complexity, and texture patterns to recognize and interpret what they observe. In addition, prior knowledge derived from past experience or external information, supports the comprehension and interpretation of the texture. Previous studies have shown that prior knowledge influences participants' interpretations of visual complexity in textures. Building upon these findings, the present study further investigates how participants psychologically process and analyze textures by incorporating eye-movement analysis. Using an eye-tracking system integrated with a head-mounted display (HMD), a realistic virtual environment was created to record and examine gaze patterns in real-time. In addition to eye-tracking measurements, participants completed surveys using a 7-point Likert scale to evaluate six perceptual factors of textures. Results showed that prior knowledge considerably impacted the gaze dispersion for three textures, indicating more concentrated visual patterns. However, except for comprehension in one specific texture, prior knowledge dids not produce significant differences in survey outcomes. Furthermore, participants without prior knowledge exhibited broader gaze dispersion compared to participants with prior knowledge while observing textures. These findings indicated that even without prior knowledge, broader visual observation of the participants led to construct their own interpretation of textures; they ultimately achieved observation scores comparable to those with prior knowledge. This demonstrates that through broader gaze dispersion and increased analysis duration, participants without prior knowledge could enhance their texture perception and interpretation, achieving similar analytical capabilities with the participants with prior knowledge. Biological sciences/Neuroscience Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 05 May, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 21 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 21 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 17 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9445234","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":635223643,"identity":"7f47b0a1-104f-4648-8a22-85088ef6ba4f","order_by":0,"name":"Hyunsoo Shin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ritsumeikan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hyunsoo","middleName":"","lastName":"Shin","suffix":""},{"id":635223644,"identity":"b1eb6d3a-6059-4249-9ea0-a6c9d6593473","order_by":1,"name":"Seungmin Jeon","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kangnam University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Seungmin","middleName":"","lastName":"Jeon","suffix":""},{"id":635223645,"identity":"e4303363-0e2b-43cc-a4d5-231fde974d60","order_by":2,"name":"Hyogyeom Kim","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ritsumeikan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hyogyeom","middleName":"","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""},{"id":635223646,"identity":"e6b3c057-658f-4ddf-952c-663815145702","order_by":3,"name":"Akira Asano","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kansai University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Akira","middleName":"","lastName":"Asano","suffix":""},{"id":635223647,"identity":"1e3d7754-c495-4e35-a42e-b50f0e28ce53","order_by":4,"name":"Liang Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ritsumeikan University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Liang","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":635223648,"identity":"49237cd9-20ab-46ca-8eef-aa78c25d0852","order_by":5,"name":"Woong Choi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgaGhIoEVAEitJwhWQtjGylaDI6fPfjg4bw0eXP+tQc/3WCwk2fgOfsAv5YzeckGidtyDHfOeJcsncOQbNjA226AV4vZDR4zicRtFYwbbpwxAGphTmDgZ8PvMIiWORX2QC3Gv3MY6onV0pCTuOF8jxnQlsMJDLxt+LXYn8kxNkg4lpa8AajXOsfguGEbzzH8WiTbzxg+/FGTbLvh/Bnj2zkV1fL8PGn4tSCARAKQAIYVAZ8gA/4DxKsdBaNgFIyCkQUAxU9B0XbBBYUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Kangnam University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Woong","middleName":"","lastName":"Choi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-17 07:08:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9445234/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9445234/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":109158870,"identity":"ec0ff5a2-1102-4766-9874-870a8c4a3b95","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-13 07:14:56","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":996297,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"EffectsofpriorknowledgeongazebehaviorandtextureperceptioninvirtualrealityHyunsooSHINv2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9445234/v1_covered_205ba62a-31d6-4d4e-aa8e-7c8af1c0431f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Effects of prior knowledge on gaze behavior and texture perception in virtual reality","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9445234/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9445234/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"When humans observe objects, they rely on multiple sources of visual information such as depth information, structural complexity, and texture patterns to recognize and interpret what they observe. 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