Effect of geometric field of view on stereoscopic spatial judgments.

ABSTRACT

Within a stereoscopic display the field of view (FOV) was held constant at 13.86 degrees while the geometric field of view (GFOV) was varied across four levels 0 degrees (parallel), 13.86 degrees (veridical), 50 degrees and 100 degrees. Participants performed a distance-matching task where they adjusted the distance of a standard track from the centre of the display to match the distance of a target track from the same point. The results indicated that while the least error occurred in the veridical GFOV condition, small variations of GFOV away from the veridical have little effect. Large differences between FOV and GFOV (36 degrees and 86 degrees) increased errors markedly. A trend toward better performance in the veridical GFOV condition relative to the parallel GFOV condition suggests that the use of linear perspective information in a stereoscopic display may facilitate more accurate spatial perception. Actual or potential applications of this work include stereoscopic display design in aviation and non-aviation settings.