Exocentric Distance Judgment and Accuracy of Head-Mounted and Stereoscopic Widescreen Displays in Frontal Planes

An experiment was done to explore the effects of two virtual display systems on the accuracy of exocentric distance judgment and position. Sixteen participants viewed animated virtual targets using either a head-mounted display (HMD) or a stereoscopic widescreen display (SWD). The virtual targets have been shown, one at a time, at three depth levels and with two corresponding exocentric distances and three target sizes at each target distance and, afterward, via pointing by holding a stick to estimate the exocentric distance and position of each target. The position data were collected using an OptiTrack motion capture system. The results showed that the accuracy of exocentric distance judgment was higher with the head-mounted displays than with the stereoscopic widescreen displays. In addition, higher position accuracy in the X-direction was obtained from the stereoscopic widescreen displays, whereas no significant difference was observed in position accuracy in the Y-direction. However, it is possible that the HMD could give better accuracy in both exocentric distance and position judgments in the frontal plane, if the HMD had been perfectly mounted and flawlessly fit the participant’s eyes. The result also revealed that exocentric distance judgment was significantly higher at the farthest target distances than at the nearest distance. Similarly, the position accuracy significantly increased as exocentric distance decreased. Moreover, engineers may allude to the findings as the evidence from the study suggests that the intermediate target distances might be fitting or ideal distances to design and structure 3D applications.