Enhancing Visual Search in Large Naturalistic Environments with Augmented Reality Cueing

Abstract

This experiment examined how augmented reality (AR) cues impact visual search in wide field-of-view (FOV) naturalistic scenes. Participants searched for targets located within or beyond the immediate FOV, unaided or aided by cues varying in spatial information, quantity, and reliability. Reliable single cues improved search performance over no cues. Dual cues outperformed single cues, particularly when targets were outside the immediate FOV. In such cases, global cues directed head movements toward the local cue, narrowing the search field. However, performance declined when cues erred, suggesting some level of reliance. These findings highlight the benefits of AR cueing, specifically dual cueing, where a redundancy gain helps combat the negative effects imposed by the device’s constrained FOV when searching a large scene. These findings offer AR cue design insights when searching wide FOV naturalistic environments.