Exploring Embodied Asymmetric Two-Handed Interactions for Immersive Data Exploration

Embodied interaction plays a crucial role in facilitating effective data exploration within immersive environments, enhancing user experience, understanding, and exploring complex data presented in the virtual space. While embodied two-handed interaction has demonstrated considerable potential, there remains a gap in under-standing how varying levels of embodiment impact asymmetric two-hand interactions for immersive data exploration. In this study, we systematically investigate this aspect by combining three settings (direct, indirect, and fixed) on the visualization control hand and two settings (direct, indirect) on the action hand. This combination results in six conditions that span varying levels of embodiment. We compared these conditions under two fundamental visualization tasks, focusing on curve brushing and object manipulation. Our discussion revolves around the use of techniques related to the specific requirements of the tasks, the characteristics of each condition, and users’ experience and expertise in the VR environment. Building upon these discussions, we offer suggestions for designing embodied two-handed interactions for immersive data exploration.