The Effect that Mismatch from Preferred Camera Controlled Y-Axis Mapping has on Performance in First Person 3D Virtual Environments

• Author / Creator

  Erik Alexander deJong

• First person camera controlled 3D virtual environments, such as those utilized in video games, virtual simulations, virtual worlds, and serious games, continue to grow as a popular method for providing educational experiences. The method of interaction for manipulating the y-axis of the first person perspective camera in a virtual environment is subject to a phenomenon of preference between a normal and an inverted mapping of the controller. The goals of this study are to 1) determine the effect that y-axis mapping mismatch to user preference has on performance, and 2) determine whether or not there is a performance difference between those who prefer normal or inverted mappings while using their preferred or non-preferred mapping. Participants (N=139) completed a target selection task as well as a target following task in a 3D virtual environment using both their-preferred and non-preferred mappings. Performance measures for response time and accuracy were measured while controlling for covariates of age, previous exposure and previous experience with video games, spatial ability, and eye-hand coordination. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the performance data of this repeated measures design. Results indicated that during the target selection task, when forced to use their non-preferred mapping, users did not perform significantly better or worse with respect to accuracy but did perform significantly worse with respect to response time. They also indicated that during the target following task, while forced to use their non-preferred mapping, users performed significantly worse. The results also suggest that those who preferred the normal mapping performed better than those who preferred inverted, but the results were limited by an imbalance in group sample sizes. The findings can be extended to affect the understanding of conceptually similar applications such as construction equipment, robotics, user interface or menu navigation, and even modern remotely controlled robotic surgical tools.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Virtual Environments
  • Education
  • Technology

• Graduation date

  Spring 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-fa5a-8j67

• License

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