Performance measures for 3 frames of reference (full exocentric, full egocentric, and tethered) were contrasted across 4 different scientific visualization subtasks: search, travel, local judgment support, and global judgment support. Participants were instructed to locate and follow a designated path through 15 simple virtual environments and to answer simple questions about that environment. Each participant completed 5 trials in every frame of reference condition (exocentric, egocentric, and tethered). The results revealed that frames of reference that utilize egocentric or tethered viewpoints support better travel performance, especially when nearing the target. However, the exocentric frame of reference supported better performance in the search subtasks and in the local and global judgment subtasks. Actual or potential applications of this research include proper uses of virtual reality to support certain scientific visualization subtasks.
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