Spatial updating during locomotion does not eliminate viewpoint-dependent visual object processing

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether locomotion to a novel test view would eliminate viewpoint costs in visual object processing. Participants performed a sequential matching task for object identity or object handedness, using novel 3-D objects displayed in a head-mounted display. To change the test view of the object, the orientation of the object in 3-D space and the test position of the observer were manipulated independently. Participants were more accurate when the test view was the same as the learned view than when the views were different no matter whether the view change of the object was 50° or 90°. With 50° rotations, participants were more accurate at novel test views caused by participants’ locomotion (object stationary) than caused by object rotation (observer stationary) but this difference disappeared when the view change was 90°. These results indicate that facilitation of spatial updating during locomotion occurs within a limited range of viewpoints, but that such facilitation does not eliminate viewpoint costs in visual object processing.