Why axis inversion? Optimizing interactions between users, interfaces, and visual displays in 3D environments

TL;DR

This paper explores why some users invert the y-axis in 3D environments and proposes a framework to understand how control schemes affect performance in tasks like gaming and surgery.

Contribution

A multidisciplinary framework is introduced to systematically study sensorimotor compatibility effects in 3D control schemes.

Findings

Fragmented research across disciplines limits understanding of control scheme impacts on performance.

A general-purpose framework is proposed to evaluate how control inversion and visual input affect perception and performance.

The framework is demonstrated in a laparoscopic surgery context and can be generalized to real-world scenarios.

Abstract

From video games to laparoscopic surgeries, differences in users’ abilities to adapt to new control schemes can have significant, even deadly impacts on performance. Starting with the question of why some video game players invert the y-axis on their console controllers, this work aims to provide a foundation for future investigations of how control schemes can significantly impact performance. We argue that fragmented research across disciplines hinders a unified understanding of how the spatial relationships between users, interfaces, and visual displays affect performance. Therefore, we begin with a multidisciplinary literature synthesis, clarifying existing findings, and identifying methodological inconsistencies that contribute to conflicting results. We then explore the relationship between key behavioral and cognitive factors and y-axis inversion preference in a group of experienced 3rd person gamers. Based on these preliminary results, we propose a “general purpose” framework to systematically investigate how control inversion and visual input influence perception and performance across various movement goals. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to evaluate performance in the context of a common and challenging laparoscopic procedure, and how it can be generalized to assess and predict sensorimotor compatibility effects across a wide variety of real-world situations.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s41235-025-00626-5.

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