AR You on Track? Investigating Effects of Augmented Reality Anchoring on Dual-Task Performance While Walking

TL;DR

This study examines how different AR anchoring methods impact dual-task performance during walking, revealing that head-anchored AR minimizes walking disruption and enhances interaction speed and accuracy.

Contribution

It provides a systematic comparison of AR anchoring effects on dual-task walking performance, informing safer and more effective AR interface designs.

Findings

Head-anchored AR minimally disrupts walking performance.

Hand-anchored AR increases reaction times and workload.

Different AR anchors significantly influence dual-task interaction outcomes.

Abstract

With the increasing spread of AR head-mounted displays suitable for everyday use, interaction with information becomes ubiquitous, even while walking. However, this requires constant shifts of our attention between walking and interacting with virtual information to fulfill both tasks adequately. Accordingly, we as a community need a thorough understanding of the mutual influences of walking and interacting with digital information to design safe yet effective interactions. Thus, we systematically investigate the effects of different AR anchors (hand, head, torso) and task difficulties on user experience and performance. We engage participants (n=26) in a dual-task paradigm involving a visual working memory task while walking. We assess the impact of dual-tasking on both virtual and walking performance, and subjective evaluations of mental and physical load. Our results show that head-anchored AR content least affected walking while allowing for fast and accurate virtual task interaction, while hand-anchored content increased reaction times and workload.