Re-investigating the Effect of the Vergence-Accommodation Conflict on 3D Pointing

The vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) limits user performance in current Virtual Reality (VR) systems. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the VAC in a single-focal VR system using three experimental conditions: with no VAC, with a constant VAC, and with a varying VAC. Previous work in this area had yielded conflicting results, so we decided to re-investigate this issue. Eighteen participants performed an ISO 9241:411 task in a study that closely replicates previous work, except that the angle of the task space was rotated 20 degrees downward, to make the task less fatiguing to perform, which addresses a potential confound in previous work. We found that the varying VAC condition had worse performance than the other conditions, which indicates that the contrasting results in previous work were very likely due to biomechanical factors. We hope that our work contributes to the understanding of the influence of the VAC in VR systems and potential strategies for improving user experience and performance in immersive virtual environments.