An evidence of cognitive benefits from immersive design review: Comparing three-dimensional perception and presence between immersive and non-immersive virtual environments

The adoption of VR solutions in design review has grown rapidly in the construction sector worldwide. However, the extent to which these enhance professionals' cognitive capabilities in the task - an essential step in determining their validity and effectiveness - is still unclear. Through a controlled experiment, this study sought to quantitatively verify the ability of an immersive VR system to provide users with an enhanced 3D perception of the virtual model and greater levels of presence compared to a non-immersive one. Controlling for individual factors and order effects, findings indicate that the immersive system improves the 3D perception of the model and provides more immersive experiences, which is expected to benefit collaborative design review and increase productivity.