It’s Not Always the Same Eye That Dominates: Effects of Viewing Angle, Handedness and Eye Movement in 3D

Understanding eye dominance, the subconscious preference for one eye, has significant implications for 3D user interfaces in VR and AR, particularly in interface design and rendering. Although HCI recognizes eye dominance, little is known about what causes it to switch from one eye to another. To explore this, we studied eye dominance in VR, where 28 participants manually aligned a cursor with a distant target across three tasks. We manipulated the horizontal viewing angle, the hand used for alignment, and eye movement induced by target behaviour. Our results confirm the dynamic nature of eye dominance, though with fewer switches than expected and varying influences across tasks. This highlights the need for adaptive HCI techniques, which account for shifts in eye dominance in system design, such as gaze-based interaction, visual design, or rendering, and can improve accuracy, usability, and experience.