XR Visual Search and Notifications

Overview

Augmented reality (AR) can put an arrow on the object you are looking for. The questions are where to place that arrow and whether the cue is correct — and what information access effort costs. Related to visual search cues, we have notifications and timers: how do they compete for attention with the world they exist to explain, and where do we place them? Our work in visual search and information access effort includes timers, cues, and notifications.

One example of how we have conducted experiments is with the visual search paradigm. We tested cueing, clutter, and placement against real search and monitoring tasks. Correct spatial guidance works, and works well. A north-up situation display cut response time by eight seconds; a gaze line saved 7.47 seconds in 360-degree multi-target search. We then break the cue on purpose, to measure what an error costs.

Our work enables many applications, from civilian use cases (e.g., rescue) and health applications (e.g., CPR) to military applications (e.g., searching for targets).