Comparing the Use of Active versus Passive Navigational Tools In a Virtual Desktop Environment via Eye Tracking

摘要

Through technological advancements, the use of virtual environments (VE) in education and training hasincreased. One challenge that users face is the task of navigation in virtual environments. This researchinvestigates navigation within a virtual environment and how users utilize different navigational tools.Navigational tools are categorized as either active or passive, based on the type of information that theypresent. The goal of this study was to determine if there are differences in the ways that users use passiveand active navigational tools. This study was conducted by collecting eye fixations and fixation durationswhile participants used a navigation tool in completing a task in a VE. Results revealed no significantdifference between percentage of fixations and fixation durations and future research should investigate thecomparison of active and passive navigational tools in more complex virtual environments.