The Effect of the Vergence-Accommodation Conflict on Virtual Hand Pointing in Immersive Displays

Previous work hypothesized that for Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) displays a mismatch between disparities and optical focus cues, known as the vergence and accommodation conflict (VAC), affects depth perception and thus limits user performance in 3D selection tasks within arm’s reach (peri-personal space). To investigate this question, we built a multifocal stereo display, which can eliminate the influence of the VAC for pointing within the investigated distances. In a user study, participants performed a virtual hand 3D selection task with targets arranged laterally or along the line of sight, with and without a change in visual depth, in display conditions with and without the VAC. Our results show that the VAC influences 3D selection performance in common VR and AR stereo displays and that multifocal displays have a positive effect on 3D selection performance with a virtual hand.