title: Comparing effects of 2-D and 3-D visual cues during aurally aided target acquisition.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate interactions between vision and audition during a visual target acquisition task performed in a virtual environment. In two experiments, participants were required to perform an acquisition task guided by auditory and/or visual cues. In both experiments the auditory cues were constructed using virtual 3-D sound techniques based on nonindividualized head-related transfer functions. In Experiment 1 the visual cue was constructed in the form of a continuously updated 2-D arrow. In Experiment 2 the visual cue was a nonstereoscopic, perspective-based 3-D arrow. The results suggested that virtual spatial auditory cues reduced acquisition time but were not as effective as the virtual visual cues. Experiencing the 3-D perspective-based arrow rather than the 2-D arrow produced a faster acquisition time not only in the visually aided conditions but also when the auditory cues were presented in isolation. Suggested novel applications include providing 3-D nonstereoscopic, perspective-based visual information on radar displays, which may lead to a better integration with spatial virtual auditory information.
authors.affiliation: Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, United Kingdom. andreacristiano.pierno@unipd.it
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pierno
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caria
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Castiello
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*