Interaction in Immersive Virtual Environments: Rotating Objects with an Instrumented Prop

Abstract

An instrumented prop was used to rotate a virtual object in an immersive virtual environment. For each experimental trial, two virtual objects were displayed adjacent to each other. With an emphasis placed on speed and accuracy, participants rotated one object until its orientation matched the orientation of the other object. Participants used an efficient path of rotation more often when the axes of the object, the participant, and the shortest path of rotation were aligned. In relative terms, these paths were more efficient when there was a large angular difference between the objects' orientations. The rate at which participants rotated the virtual object increased substantially with the magnitude of the initial angular difference between the two orientations. By contrast, in most mental rotation studies the rate of rotation remained constant for variations in angular disparity.