top of page

Hidden Histories

Immersive Study of Sacred Space Perception using Virtual Reality and Gaze Tracking

Quick Facts

Duration: 2019 – ongoing

Technical Lead: Dr. Margarita Vinnikov, NJIT

Hosted by: Center for Humanities in Extended Reality (CHXR), Albert Dorman Honors College, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Collaborators: Dean Louis Hamilton, Burçak Ozludil, Ersin Altin, Vincent Oria

Student Contributors: iXR Lab undergraduate and master's researchers, Albert Dorman Honors College, CHXR

Keywords: Extended Reality, Gaze Tracking, Sacred Space, Spatial Attention, Cultural Heritage

Overview

Hidden Histories uses immersive virtual reality, along with gaze-tracking and spatial analysis, to examine how people attend to and experience sacred micro-spaces. The project focuses on Edicole Sacre — roadside devotional shrines in Rome (Italy) — and neighborhood shrines in the Ironbound (Newark, NJ). High-fidelity virtual reconstructions let us capture attention patterns and spatial engagement within these environments. This work aligns with CHXR’s mission to integrate extended reality with humanistic inquiry across cultural and historical contexts.

Motivation & Background

Sacred spaces are dynamic environments where ritual, community memory, and cultural meaning intersect. Traditional observation captures outward behavior but rarely reveals how attention moves through space or how cultural context shapes perception. Combining VR reconstructions with eye tracking places participants inside these environments, allowing us to quantify gaze behavior and embodied engagement. This interdisciplinary project brings together architecture, anthropology, cognitive psychology, and digital humanities.

Goals & Research Questions

  • Develop immersive VR reconstructions of Edicole Sacre and Ironbound shrines that reflect their spatial, visual, and symbolic character.

  • Capture and analyze gaze trajectories and fixation patterns to map attention flow through these spaces.

  • Compare VR exploration with empirical field observations, where available, to assess real-world validity.

  • Generate interpretive insights and design principles for heritage interpretation, VR humanities education, and cultural tourism.

Methods & Approach

  • Built high-fidelity VR environments using field imagery and architectural reconstructions.

  • Participants explored these spaces in VR with head-mounted eye-tracking devices to log gaze direction, fixation durations, and movement paths.

  • Applied spatial diffusion metrics and heat-map analysis to identify hotspots of attention and typical visual sequences.

  • Collected subjective data via questionnaires and interviews on presence, emotional engagement, and perceived sacredness.

Results & Findings

  • Gaze heat maps consistently highlighted attention around altars, iconographic elements, and symbolic objects, indicating shared perceptual anchors.

  • Participants reported a stronger sense of immersion when ambient sound and spatial cues reflected real environments.

  • Cultural familiarity influenced exploration: participants with background knowledge demonstrated focused gaze patterns and intentional movement; novices exhibited broader exploratory behavior.

  • These findings show VR’s potential to capture perceptual patterns in sacred spaces and complement traditional observation methods.

Impact & Dissemination

  • Hidden Histories has been showcased in CHXR research seminars and graduate courses in heritage studies and XR design at NJIT.

  • Results presented at workshops on digital heritage technologies and immersive media.

  • Engagement with collaborators and stakeholders in Newark and Rome facilitated discussion on digital interpretation and community perspectives.

  • Project outputs have informed XR heritage education content used in public humanities outreach.

Future Directions

  • Deploy mobile AR overlays at physical shrine sites to integrate virtual and real interpretation.

  • Support remote collaborative VR tours with shared gaze visualization.

  • Pair physiological metrics (heart rate, GSR) with gaze to deepen emotion and engagement analysis.

  • Expand applications to other heritage contexts, including memorial landscapes and historic townscapes.

​

Selected Publication

Vinnikov, Margarita, et al. "Understanding urban devotion through the eyes of an observer." ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications. 2021.

©2023 by Dr. Margarita Vinnikov. 

bottom of page