Visual Search in Augmented Reality: Effect of Target Cue Type and Location
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Summary
This study investigates the efficacy of different visual cueing aids in augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) during visual search tasks, specifically examining the trade-off between reduced information access effort and increased display clutter. Motivated by the proximity compatibility principle, which suggests that integrating display information with the real world improves performance, the researchers sought to determine which cue types and locations best facilitate finding targets in a cluttered environment. The study compared three cue types—a world-referenced AR arrow, a screen-referenced icon image of the target, and a screen-referenced minimap—against a no-cue control condition. Additionally, it tested the impact of cue location, presenting cues either in the central field of view or approximately 15 degrees downward, requiring head movement to access. The experiment utilized 25 participants who performed a visual search task using a Microsoft HoloLens 2 AR-HMD. Participants were seated in a room containing 32 real-world objects (3D Mega Blocks) distributed across a 180-degree horizontal field. The task required locating a designated target object as quickly and accurately as possible. The AR arrow pointed directly to the target in world-referenced coordinates, maintaining perceptual proximity. In contrast, the icon and minimap cues were screen-referenced, remaining fixed on the display regardless of head movement. The minimap provided spatial location data without appearance details, while the icon provided appearance details without spatial guidance. Each participant completed 40 trials, with cue types and locations counterbalanced. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs on log-transformed response times and percent error rates. The results demonstrated a significant overall performance benefit when using any target cue compared to the no-cue condition. The world-referenced arrow cue yielded the fastest response times (M = 4.87 seconds), significantly outperforming the minimap (M = 6.67 seconds), the icon (M = 9.21 seconds), and the no-cue condition (M = 10.2 seconds). The minimap also performed significantly better than the icon and the no-cue condition. Regarding location, cues presented in the center of the field of view resulted in faster response times than those located downward. However, this advantage was partially offset by the higher clutter associated with the icon and minimap cues when placed centrally. The arrow cue, being simpler and world-referenced, avoided this clutter penalty. These findings suggest that for visual search tasks in the far domain, target cues with high display proximity that minimize scanning effort are most effective. The AR arrow proved superior because it combined spatial guidance with low visual clutter, adhering to the proximity compatibility principle. While central placement generally improved speed, complex cues like the minimap and icon introduced clutter that negated some benefits. The study concludes that AR cues which integrate seamlessly with the user’s view and reduce the need for head movement or scanning are optimal for enhancing search performance in augmented reality environments.
Key finding
World-referenced arrow cues provided the greatest performance benefit for visual search in augmented reality, outperforming screen-referenced icons and minimaps as well as no-cue conditions.
Methodology
lab_experiment
Sample size: 24
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-07 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-06 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-07 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-07 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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