Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> Traditional two-dimensional assessments fall short of capturing exploratory behavior across the full three-dimensional workspace. We developed an immersive virtual reality paradigm that maps exploratory priority across a full-sphere, equidistant target arrangement with randomized irregular spacing under standardized visual conditions. Sixty healthy adults searched for 62 non-symbolic spherical targets using direct reaching with a markerless virtual hand; subsequent score-based mapping focused on an omission-free, right-handed subset ( <italic>n</italic> = 44) to ensure mathematical comparability. Participants performed two tasks, using each hand in separate trials. Targets were scored by contact order (higher scores indicate later contact). Three main patterns were observed. First, omissions (21.7% of participants) were concentrated in lower peripersonal space, and vertical poles showed the largest inter-individual variability. Second, leftward asymmetry (pseudoneglect-like pattern) was observed at horizontal poles and in the rear workspace, although pole-level significance differed by task hand. Third, within the frontal workspace, scores followed a medial-to-lateral increase. Overall spatial distributions were broadly similar across right- and left-hand tasks. Our results reveal a non-uniform spatial organization of 3D exploratory priority across both vertical and horizontal dimensions. These findings provide a preliminary reference dataset in young adults and a controlled framework for quantifying 3D exploratory behavior. </p>