Pointing in stereoscopic space.
Movements in virtual stereoscopic space tend to be difficult and slow. To shed some light on the origins of these difficulties, we studied open-loop pointing with targets presented in a mirror stereoscope. Whilst targets were placed in a virtual horizontal plane, movement end-points were located in an inclined plane. The inclination of this plane was a stable individual characteristic. Amplitude errors gave no evidence of a contraction bias. Open-loop movements had fairly straight trajectories, but closed-loop movements were strongly curved so that they ended in a horizontal plane rather than in an inclined one. Effects of closed-loop movements on subsequent open-loop movements (calibration effects) were only small. These findings reveal that movements in a virtual environment exhibit a number of characteristics also seen in real environments, but in addition they reflect specific visual illusions. Extensive calibration procedures are needed to overcome such errors for the reliance on closed-loop control of pointing to be relaxed.
Heuer
Herbert
H
Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Ardeystrasse 67, D 44139 Dortmund, Germany. heuer@ifado.de
Rapp
Katrin
K
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult