Visual Search in Augmented Reality: Effect of Target Cue Type and Location

Abstract

The current experiment examined the relative benefit of different cueing aids during a visual target search task, and the tradeoff between reduced information access effort and increased overlay clutter. Using an augmented reality head-mounted display (AR-HMD), participants completed a 180-degree visual search task with three different cue types (world-referenced arrow, screen-referenced icon target image, and screen-referenced minimap) compared to a control condition (no cueing aid). Target cues differed in terms of display proximity and where they were presented on the AR-HMD (the central field of view or approximately 15 degrees downward from the center). We found an overall performance benefit when searching for an object in the far domain with a target cue compared to searching with no cue, and the arrow cue (highest display proximity) showed the greatest overall benefit. We also found a performance benefit for cues located at the center of the AR-HMD compared to the downward location, but this benefit was offset by the higher clutter of the icon image and the minimap. These findings suggest that target cues with higher display proximity that also reduce information access effort (scanning) may be more suitable cueing aids when searching for an object in the far domain.