Does Motion Parallax Improve Communication Efficiency in Video Chats?

Abstract

As video communication has become more prevalent in our day-to-day lives, it becomes evident that face-to-face communication vastly outclasses video chat in terms of peer communication. Motion parallax is a perceptual effect that arises when an observer moves relative to their surroundings, or their surroundings move relative to them, causing nearby objects in their visual field to appear to move more quickly than distant objects. This relative motion provides a depth cue that the brain can use to estimate the relative distances and orientations of the objects. Directionality is a mutual understanding of the distance and orientation of people in 3D space (Troje, 2023). Previous studies have found that motion parallax is important in determining the direction of objects (Wang & Troje, 2023). Motion parallax can help provide directionality in day-to-day life, including aiding with nonverbal cues such as pointing or turning one’s head. This study examines whether adding motion parallax to video chat with avatars can enhance communication efficiency, as indicated by performance on an instruction task. Many nonverbal cues like mutual gaze, pointing, and eye contact rely on directionality to function accurately. Video chat can create misleading cues due to the lack of motion parallax, causing misunderstandings (Troje, 2023). This study found that the use of motion parallax while video chatting did not enhance performance on a shared task between two subjects, relative to the control. Further research is required to clarify the relationship between motion parallax and communication efficiency in video chat with avatars.