Effects of AR Display Context Switching and Focal Distance Switching on Human Performance
Joseph L. Gabbard, Divya Gupta Mehra, and J. Edward Swan II. Effects of AR Display Context Switching and Focal Distance Switching on Human Performance. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 25(6):2228–2241, May 2018. DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2018.2832633.
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Abstract
In augmented reality (AR) environments, information is oftendistributed between real- world and virtual contexts, and often appears at different distances from the user. Therefore, to integrate the information, users must repeatedly switch context and refocus the eyes. To focus at different distances, the user's eyes must accommodate, which when done repeatedly can cause eyestrain and degrade task performance. An experiment was conducted that examined switching context and focal distance between a real and an AR environment, using a text-based visual search task and a monocular optical see-through AR display. Both context switching and focal distance switching resulted in significantly reduced performance. In addition, repeatedly performing the task caused visual fatigue to steadily increase. Performance was particularly poor for virtual text presented at optical infinity, and for target letters that participants tried to read before their eyes had completely accommodated to a new focal distance. The results show that context switching and focal distance switching are important AR user interface design issues.
BibTeX
@Article{TVCG18-cs,
author = {Joseph L. Gabbard and Divya Gupta Mehra and J. Edward
{Swan~II}},
title = {Effects of AR Display Context Switching and Focal Distance
Switching on Human Performance},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
volume = 25,
number = 6,
month = {May},
year = 2018,
pages = {2228--2241},
note = {DOI: <a target="_blank"
href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TVCG.2018.2832633">10.1109/TVCG.2018.2832633</a>.}
abstract = {
In augmented reality (AR) environments, information is often
distributed between real- world and virtual contexts, and often
appears at different distances from the user. Therefore, to integrate
the information, users must repeatedly switch context and refocus the
eyes. To focus at different distances, the user's eyes must
accommodate, which when done repeatedly can cause eyestrain and
degrade task performance. An experiment was conducted that examined
switching context and focal distance between a real and an AR
environment, using a text-based visual search task and a monocular
optical see-through AR display. Both context switching and focal
distance switching resulted in significantly reduced performance. In
addition, repeatedly performing the task caused visual fatigue to
steadily increase. Performance was particularly poor for virtual text
presented at optical infinity, and for target letters that
participants tried to read before their eyes had completely
accommodated to a new focal distance. The results show that context
switching and focal distance switching are important AR user interface
design issues.
},
}