Judging the position and orientation of the surrounding room

Judging the position and orientation of the surrounding room | 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 Judging the position and orientation of the surrounding room John Jong-Jin Kim, Meaghan McManus, Pierre-Pascal Forster, Immo Schütz, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9011786/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Knowing the position and orientation of the surroundings relative to oneself is essential in gauging the spatial properties of the environment. We measured people’s accuracy and precision in judging (a) the position (using a virtual room) and the orientation of a room (using a real room) relative to an allocentric (the surrounding real room) or egocentric (body) reference frames, and (b) the orientation of their own body. When judging the position and orientation of the room, people were generally accurate sitting in the center of it, but showed a cross-reference influence when not sitting in the center. This may indicate a ‘central body position bias’, i.e., a tendency to judge one’s body as being at the center of any space. When judging a room’s orientation, people thought an upright room was tilted relative to gravity, but their body orientation had no impact on this misperception. When judging their body orientation relative to gravity, people thought they were tilted when upright, but their perception was unaffected by the room tilt. We discuss these results in terms of the contribution of the egocentric and allocentric cues in human perception of the position and orientation of a room relative to themselves. 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 agreed at journal 14 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 27 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 16 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 25 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 12 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 10 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 10 Mar, 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. 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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-9011786","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":627080966,"identity":"ab046630-002a-4247-93df-c90e4f488678","order_by":0,"name":"John Jong-Jin Kim","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYgIWEAxMwMjA+AbBkGBjbitTADKQMeglrgQAKoVIIoLcztvYdfWBTcYZBs506r+Nj2h4efvS2B4UfFNtwO6zmXZiFh8IxBmpl3282ZbQY8kj3HDjD2nLmNW8uMHDMDCYPDDHJALbd5gVoMbqQ3MDO2EamlmFgtxg9AWkAOY4ZoSTuAX0vPGTNgIB/mkWzm3Sw545wxyC8JB/H5xbC9x/izxJ/DchLnz2788KFMTg4YYoYPflTg0dLAwCYNjA8eFNEDONUDgTwwaj5+wKdiFIyCUTAKRgEAqSpN+8C7YZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"York University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"John","middleName":"Jong-Jin","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""},{"id":627080967,"identity":"62720411-3e8d-45b3-9acb-0e329dcbf146","order_by":1,"name":"Meaghan McManus","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Giessen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Meaghan","middleName":"","lastName":"McManus","suffix":""},{"id":627080968,"identity":"c493005d-1823-4df6-a99b-ae664295f0cc","order_by":2,"name":"Pierre-Pascal Forster","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Giessen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Pierre-Pascal","middleName":"","lastName":"Forster","suffix":""},{"id":627080969,"identity":"f85ba0d1-909e-4b8e-a930-09a2eae380b7","order_by":3,"name":"Immo Schütz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Giessen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Immo","middleName":"","lastName":"Schütz","suffix":""},{"id":627080970,"identity":"008a937a-a0ea-416b-b125-d8bf88a28344","order_by":4,"name":"Katja Fiehler","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Giessen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Katja","middleName":"","lastName":"Fiehler","suffix":""},{"id":627080971,"identity":"3a85a6e2-2606-4fa2-a061-f5fa09b0fd5a","order_by":5,"name":"Laurence R. 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We measured people\u0026rsquo;s accuracy and precision in judging (a) the position (using a virtual room) and the orientation of a room (using a real room) relative to an allocentric (the surrounding real room) or egocentric (body) reference frames, and (b) the orientation of their own body. When judging the position and orientation of the room, people were generally accurate sitting in the center of it, but showed a cross-reference influence when not sitting in the center. This may indicate a \u0026lsquo;central body position bias\u0026rsquo;, i.e., a tendency to judge one\u0026rsquo;s body as being at the center of any space. When judging a room\u0026rsquo;s orientation, people thought an upright room was tilted relative to gravity, but their body orientation had no impact on this misperception. When judging their body orientation relative to gravity, people thought they were tilted when upright, but their perception was unaffected by the room tilt. 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