TY - GEN
T1 - Impact of Virtual Reality on Perception of Sacred Spaces
T2 - 14th International Conference on Culture and Computing, C and C 2026, held as part of the 28th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2026
AU - Murrugarra, Emma
AU - Oduru Ramesh, Mohith
AU - Ozludil Altin, Burcak
AU - Hamilton, Louis I.
AU - Vinnikov, Margarita
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
PY - 2026
Y1 - 2026
N2 - Virtual Reality (VR) allows us to observe hidden histories and investigate how people engage with historic informal sacred spaces. Examining the eye-tracking and location-tracking data from the “restored” Grotta Pinta Madonna, an historic shrine in Rome, this paper analyzes how participants attended to features within the virtual environment, such as time spent gazing at, or proximity to, religious iconography. Fifty-four participants freely explored a virtual scene of the shrine, experiencing either the pre-reconstruction (n=28) or post-reconstruction (n=26) version of the scene. Results indicate that gaze patterns and movement through the space varied by reconstruction condition. Moreover, participants’ attention to religious iconography or spatial features predicted their subjective perception of the virtual environment. These findings demonstrate the value of VR as a tool for examining engagement with reconstructed devotional spaces and suggest avenues for integrating behavioral measures into urban planning, digital heritage, and preservation efforts.
AB - Virtual Reality (VR) allows us to observe hidden histories and investigate how people engage with historic informal sacred spaces. Examining the eye-tracking and location-tracking data from the “restored” Grotta Pinta Madonna, an historic shrine in Rome, this paper analyzes how participants attended to features within the virtual environment, such as time spent gazing at, or proximity to, religious iconography. Fifty-four participants freely explored a virtual scene of the shrine, experiencing either the pre-reconstruction (n=28) or post-reconstruction (n=26) version of the scene. Results indicate that gaze patterns and movement through the space varied by reconstruction condition. Moreover, participants’ attention to religious iconography or spatial features predicted their subjective perception of the virtual environment. These findings demonstrate the value of VR as a tool for examining engagement with reconstructed devotional spaces and suggest avenues for integrating behavioral measures into urban planning, digital heritage, and preservation efforts.
KW - Digital Heritage
KW - Digital Humanities
KW - Embodied Interaction
KW - Eye-Tracking
KW - Virtual Reality
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043919035
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043919035#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-032-30073-7_9
DO - 10.1007/978-3-032-30073-7_9
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:105043919035
SN - 9783032300720
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science
SP - 153
EP - 173
BT - Culture and Computing - 14th International Conference, C and C 2026, Held as Part of the 28th HCI International Conference, HCII 2026, Proceedings
A2 - Rauterberg, Matthias
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Y2 - 26 July 2026 through 31 July 2026
ER -