A cognitive load assessment study of three-dimensional interactive virtual reality interfaces

Abstract

Advances in virtual reality (VR) open possibilities for novel three-dimensional (3D) graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to emerge for complex tasks and information visualisation. However, three dimensional GUIs do not have many design heuristics. Since 3D GUIs deal with a third dimension, understanding cognitive workload of such systems need to consider a set of different variables to make the interface more usable. Factors like the field of view, physical demand, and mental demand that increase the workload in interacting with three dimensional interfaces need to be considered. This paper reports an experiment by collating quantitative and qualitative responses from N = 30 users to explore usability problems that are likely to be encountered when a two-dimensional (2D) interface element such as number keypad is replaced with a 3D element interface in VR. Would an interface with 3D elements perform better than the existing 2D GUIs is a moot research question? The results indicate user likeliness towards the three dimensional interface. The paper discusses issues of interaction in 2D and 3D virtual spaces with their possible implications for upcoming 3D VR environments.