Selection using a one-eyed cursor in a fish tank VR environment

This study investigates the use of a 2D cursor presented to one eye for target selection in Fish Tank VR and other stereo environments. It is argued that 2D selection of 3D objects should be less difficult than 3D selection. Vision research concerning binocular rivalry and the tendency we have to project images onto surfaces suggests that this mode of viewing will not seem particularly unnatural. A Fitt's Law experiment was done to directly compare target acquisition with a one-eyed 2D cursor and target acquisition using a 3D cursor. In both cases we used the same input device (Polhemus Fastrak) so that the device lag and gain parameters were exactly matched. The results show a large improvement in target acquisition time using the 2D cursor. The practical implications of this is that the 2D selection method using a one-eyed cursor in preferable to the 3D selection method. Theoretical implications relate to methods for extending Fitts' Law from the one-dimensional task for which it was designed to 2D and 3D tasks. We conclude that the existing approaches to this problem are not adequate.