Nils Ove Beese

• This dissertation aims to shed light on both visual and non-visual aspects of spatial cognition and user experience (UX) in Virtual Reality (VR). Four studies were conducted using VR environments, collecting data on the feeling of presence during all four studies. The first two studies examined visual aspects of spatial cognition varying different task factors and UX factors. These factors included graphic fidelity, level difficulty as well as availability of landmark cues to help orientation. The third study then varied non-visual feedback cues in an invisible and out-of-sight object search tasks. The fourth study was a pilot study on UX of using haptic data gloves in teaching and learning in the area of Manual Medicine and Manual Therapy. To examine the UX, a VR application using those haptic data gloves was developed using a User-Centered Design approach, incorporating teachers' and students' opinions in the development. The developed VR application was then tested by practitioners, teachers and students of Manual Medicine and Therapy and data was collected on the usability and UX of both the VR app as well as the haptic data gloves. The results of all of those studies are then discussed and embedded in the current research, putting a focus on presence, UX and the different modalities and how these factors might influence each other in VR. The dissertation then closes by arguing why multimodal VR experiences should be focussed on as well as giving an outlook on what might be needed to achieve truly multimodal VR experience.