Individual differences in virtual environmentsintroduction and overview (original) (raw)
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Individual differences in virtual environments
2004
This paper summarises the results of several studies of individual differences among users navigating in virtual environments. These differences relate to performance of navigational tasks, and the degree of sense of presence experienced by the users. The individual differences addressed in this paper refer primarily to personality and demographic factors. The possibility of improving the design of virtual environments for a better accommodation of these differences is discussed.
Individual differences and navigation in hypermedia
1996
This study derives from two important observations. First, that navigation in hypermedia is a difficult task, and second, that individual cognitive differences play a role in how well users are able to efficiently use computer systems. We found that of the cognitive abilities tested in our study, only spatial ability could be related to the time spent in completing a set of tasks in a large, hypermedia, information structure. We furthermore found that it was only certain aspects of spatial ability which were related to the ability navigate in hypermedia, namely those related to solving spatial problems mentally rather than solving spatial problems in the physical world.
Individual differences in a spatial‐semantic virtual environment
Journal of the American Society for Information …, 2000
This article presents two studies concerning the role of individual differences in searching through a spatialsemantic virtual environment. In the first study, 10 subjects searched for two topics through a spatial user interface of a semantic space. A strong positive correlation was found between associative memory (MA-1) and search performance (r ؍ 0.855, p ؍ 0.003), but no significant correlation was found between visual memory (MV-1) and search performance. In the second study, 12 subjects participated in a within-subject experimental design. The same spatial user interface and a simple textual user interface were used. The effects of spatial ability (VZ-2), associative memory (MA-1), and on-line experience were tested on a set of interrelated search performance scores. A statistically significant main effect of on-line experience was found, F(6, 4) ؍ 6.213, p ؍ 0.049, two-tailed. In particular, on-line experience has a significant effect on the recall scores with the textual interface. Individuals experienced in on-line search are more likely to have a higher recall score with the textual interface than less experienced individuals. No significant main effects were found for spatial ability and associative memory. Subjects' comments suggest a potentially complex interplay between individuals' mental models and the high-dimensional semantic model. Qualitative and process-oriented studies are, therefore, called for to reveal the complex interaction between individuals' cognitive abilities, domain knowledge, and direct manipulation skills. A recommendation is made that spatial-semantic models should be adaptable to suit individuals and tasks at various levels.
Individual differences in exploration using desktop VR
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2003
With advances in computer graphics, a number of innovative approaches to information visualization have been developed (e.g., Card et al, 1991). Some of these approaches create a mapping between information and corresponding structure in a virtual world. The resulting virtual worlds can be fully three dimensional (3D) or they can be implemented as a series of 2D birds-eye "snapshots" that are traversed as if they were in 3D, using operations such as panning and zooming interactively (2.5D). This paper reports a study that contrasted 3D and 2.5D performance for people with differing levels of spatial and structure learning ability. Four data collection methods were employed: search task scoring; subjective questionnaires; navigational activity logging and analysis; and administration of tests for spatial and structure-learning abilities. Analysis of the results revealed statistically significant effects of user abilities, and information environment designs. Overall, this research did not find a performance advantage for using a 3D rather than a 2.5D virtual world. In addition, users in the lowest quartile of spatial ability had significantly lower search performance in the 3D environment. The findings suggest that individual differences in traits such as spatial ability may be important in determining the usability and acceptability of 3D environments.
Individual differences and human computer interaction
1999
This paper reports on a study of the significance of individual differences in human computer interaction (HCI). The study examined three aspects of individual differences and their impact on people’s preferences for different types of user interfaces. The hypothesis for the study was that, preferred interface style, preferred operating system and individual work style are expected to be influenced by culture, personal style and other individual attributes. The results of this study demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between individual differences and interface preference. There are considerable differences between the results from this study and those from a similar study by Evers and Day (1997). This indicates that conclusions about interface preferences should not be based on studies with a small sample size. It confirms the need for the collaborative International Study, (being organised by Evers, Turk and others), which will involve a large number of subjects from d...
How should abstract information be displayed in Information-Rich Virtual Environments (IRVEs)? There are a variety of techniques available, and it is important to determine which techniques help foster a user's understanding both within and between abstract and spatial information types. Our evaluation compared two such techniques: Object Space and Display Space. Users strongly prefer Display Space over Object Space, and those who use Display Space may perform better. Display Space was faster and more accurate than Object Space for tasks comparing abstract information. Object Space was more accurate for comparisons of spatial information. These results suggest that for abstract criteria, visibility is a more important requirement than perceptual coupling by depth and association cues. They also support the value of perceptual coupling for tasks with spatial criteria.
Individual Differences and Paired Learning in Virtual Environments
International journal of humanities and social sciences, 2019
In this research study, postsecondary students completed an information learning task in an avatar-based 3D virtual learning environment. Three factors were of interest in relation to learning; 1) the influence of collaborative vs. independent conditions, 2) the influence of the spatial arrangement of the virtual environment (linear, random and clustered), and 3) the relationship of individual differences such as spatial skill, general computer experience and video game experience to learning. Students completed pretest measures of prior computer experience and prior spatial skill. Following the premeasure administration, students were given instruction to move through the virtual environment and study all the material within 10 information stations. In the collaborative condition, students proceeded in randomly assigned pairs, while in the independent condition they proceeded alone. After this learning phase, all students individually completed a multiple choice test to determine i...
Human factors in virtual environments
Virtual Reality, 1998
virtual environments human factors, user interfaces, computer graphics, head-mounted displays This is the final report detailing the research conducted during a three-year project funded by the HP Laboratories External Research Program (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000) in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, UK. The project's initial goals were centred on the investigation of human factors issues related to interacting with distributed computer graphics worlds in real-time over a network. These objectives were extended and focused on fidelity metrics for computer graphics simulations displayed on Head Mounted Displays. Theories from cognitive psychology were employed to devise these metrics which were, subsequently, validated by formally designed experiments involving human judgements of spatial memory awareness states.