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Main Authors: Qiu, Linjie, Wang, Duotun, Li, Boyu, Li, Jiawei, Shen, Yulin, Wang, Zeyu, Fan, Mingming
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01061
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author Qiu, Linjie
Wang, Duotun
Li, Boyu
Li, Jiawei
Shen, Yulin
Wang, Zeyu
Fan, Mingming
author_facet Qiu, Linjie
Wang, Duotun
Li, Boyu
Li, Jiawei
Shen, Yulin
Wang, Zeyu
Fan, Mingming
contents Target selection is a fundamental interaction in virtual reality (VR). But the act of confirming a selection, such as a button press or pinch, can disturb the tracked pose and shift the intended target, which is referred to as the Heisenberg Effect. Prior research has mainly investigated controller input. However, it remains unclear how the effect manifests in the bare-hand input and how score-based techniques may mitigate the effect in different spatial variations. To fill the gap, we conduct a within-subject study to examine the Heisenberg Effect across two input modalities (i.e., controller and hand) and two selection mechanisms (i.e., direct and score-based). Our results show that hand input is more susceptible to the Heisenberg Effect, with direct selection more influenced by target width and score-based selection more sensitive to target density. Based on previous vote-oriented technique and our temporal analysis, we introduce weighted VOTE, a history-based intention accuracy model for target voting, that reweights recent interaction intent to counteract input disturbances. Our evaluation shows the method improves selection accuracy compared to baseline techniques. Finally, we discuss future directions for adaptive selection methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_01061
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Direct vs. Score-based Selection: Understanding the Heisenberg Effect in Target Acquisition Across Input Modalities in Virtual Reality
Qiu, Linjie
Wang, Duotun
Li, Boyu
Li, Jiawei
Shen, Yulin
Wang, Zeyu
Fan, Mingming
Human-Computer Interaction
Target selection is a fundamental interaction in virtual reality (VR). But the act of confirming a selection, such as a button press or pinch, can disturb the tracked pose and shift the intended target, which is referred to as the Heisenberg Effect. Prior research has mainly investigated controller input. However, it remains unclear how the effect manifests in the bare-hand input and how score-based techniques may mitigate the effect in different spatial variations. To fill the gap, we conduct a within-subject study to examine the Heisenberg Effect across two input modalities (i.e., controller and hand) and two selection mechanisms (i.e., direct and score-based). Our results show that hand input is more susceptible to the Heisenberg Effect, with direct selection more influenced by target width and score-based selection more sensitive to target density. Based on previous vote-oriented technique and our temporal analysis, we introduce weighted VOTE, a history-based intention accuracy model for target voting, that reweights recent interaction intent to counteract input disturbances. Our evaluation shows the method improves selection accuracy compared to baseline techniques. Finally, we discuss future directions for adaptive selection methods.
title Direct vs. Score-based Selection: Understanding the Heisenberg Effect in Target Acquisition Across Input Modalities in Virtual Reality
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01061