Heavy Looks, Slower Moves: Effects of Physical and Visual Object Weight on Pointing in Virtual Reality

In Virtual Reality (VR), users frequently interact through pointing movements.The accuracy and speed of such goal-directed movements depend on their estimated energy and time costs.In VR, vision is stimulated separately from tactile and kinesthetic sensory modalities.For instance, a virtual pointing device can be visually presented as heavy while being physically lightweight.Yet, it is unknown how visual and physical weight cues contribute to our strategy to optimize movements in terms of accuracy and speed.In a study with 32 participants, we found physical weight (additional weight of the controller) increases precision and movement time when pointing in VR.Interestingly, we found that visually conveyed weight (additional volume at the controller's 3d model) also increases movement time, suggesting that adjusting the appearance of virtually held objects can affect the performance of pointing movements.We interpret our findings in light of motor-cognitive models and discuss implications for VR designers.