The Effects of Haptic Feedback and Visual Distraction on Pointing Task Performance

Abstract

Previous research has not fully examined the effect of additional sensory feedback, particularly delivered through the haptic modality, in pointing task performance with visual distractions. This study examined the effect of haptic feedback and visual distraction on pointing task performance in a 3D virtual environment. Results indicate a strong positive effect of haptic feedback on performance in terms of task time and root-mean square error of motion. Level of similarity between distractor objects and the target object significantly reduced performance, and Downloaded by [Dalhousie University] at 23:34 09 October 2015A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 4 subjective ratings indicated a sense of increased task difficulty as similarity increased.Participants produced the best performance in trials where distractor objects had a different color but the same shape as the target object and constant haptic assistive feedback was provided.Overall, this study provides insight towards the effect of object features and similarity and the effect of haptic feedback on pointing task performance. Prior studies have examined a variety of different influential factors on human computer interaction in virtual environments (Bowman et al., 2002). Initially, many of these studies were field specific and lacked a generalized examination of factors that may influence human performance (e.g., Robles-de-la-Torre, 2006; Takavoli et al., 2006). Usability of virtual environments is a broadening research field (Munch, 1997; Johnson, 1999), notably the capability of virtual environments to enhance user experience through the use of additional sensory feedback (e.g., Miller, 1998; Magnussen, 2006; Lee, 2008; Vanacken, 2009; Hu et al., 2012).This study sought to examine the effect of sensory feedback, in particular haptic feedback, on human performance when completing a pointing task in a desktop-based virtual environment.The increased prevalence and variety of virtual environments in use may be further supported with haptic feedback, and many prior studies are field specific. A simple desktop-based virtual environment provides a general case with broad application. Additionally, the effect of visual distraction, defined in this study as visuals not related to the designated task yet still being perceived in the same field of view as the objective, was examined. Color and shape were Downloaded by [Dalhousie University] at 23:34 09 October 2015 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 5 manipulated with varying degrees of similarity to explore the effect of visual distraction on pointing task performance. The result of this examination was to identify consistency or departure from expectations of human behavior in 3D virtual environments based on results published in previous studies.This paper is organized as follows: Related work in section gives an overview of basic topics that are important for this study, followed by a description of research methodologies, measurements, and hypotheses in Section 3. Sections 4 and 5 present the results of the ...

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