Influence of Perspective on Dynamic Tasks in Virtual Reality

Users are increasingly able to move around and perform tasks in virtual environments (VEs). Such movements and tasks are typically represented in a VE using either a first-person perspective (1PP) or a third-person perspective (3PP). In Virtual Reality (VR), 1PP is almost universally used. 3PP can be represented as either egocentric or allocentric. However, there is little empirical evidence about which view may be better suited to dynamic tasks in particular. This paper compares the use of 1PP, egocentric 3PP and allocentric 3PP for dynamic tasks in VR. Our results indicate that 1PP provides the best spatial perception and performance across several dynamic tasks. This advantage is less pronounced as the task becomes more dynamic.