More or less? Improving monocular head mounted display assisted visual search by reducing guidance precision

To test six different methods of directing a user's attention in a peripheral head mounted display assisted visual search task.

Each time a user needs to shift their attention between virtual information and their environment has a cost. The faster a user can process a guiding cue and the fewer times they need to return to it, the more efficient that cue will be at directing a user's attention. The most effective method, creating a visual effect at the location of the target, is not suitable for peripheral head mounted displays. This study tests alternative guiding cues better suited to these devices.

Participants searched for a singleton target hidden among 299 distractors while directed with one of six device-delivered guiding cues. Search times were recorded.

A static region map was the most efficient and most preferred cue. Static and dynamic directional cues were also effective in comparison to non-guided search. Cues designed to work solely within the participants' peripheral vision were relatively ineffective CONCLUSION: Guidance cues that direct a user's attention to targets within the real environment do not need to precisely lead to the target. It is instead more efficient to lead a user to the general vicinity of the target quickly and then have the user revert to their natural visual search behaviour.

This finding is broadly useful when assisting visual search tasks with handheld or worn devices which do not cover the user's full field of view. PRéCIS: This study tested six different methods of guiding attention in a peripheral head-mounted display assisted visual search task. This study compared static, dynamic and peripheral-vision endogenous cues to targets and found a static simple map cue both fastest and most preferred by users.