[POSTER] The Impact of the Frame of Reference on Attention Shifts Between Augmented Reality and Real-World Environment

Augmented reality (AR) systems allow enriching the environment by supportive and useful virtual data. However, the human information processing capacity is limited. Thus, additional information may distract attention from the environment to the virtual data, resulting in a lower perception of relevant real-world information. In this paper we evaluate whether this effect depends on the frame of reference used to overlay the real world with virtual data. In a user study with 20 participants, we measured the reaction time to simple color stimuli presented either in AR or the environment while participants focused their attention either in AR or the environment. Stimuli in AR were presented in two different frames of reference — screen-stabilized or world-fixed. Responses to signals in AR were significantly faster than to signals in the environment, suggesting a dominance of virtual information over real ones. This also resulted in a significantly prolonged reaction time when participants needed to shift their attention from AR to the environment (but not vice versa). This negative effect disappeared when virtual data was presented world-fixed. Obviously, a world-fixed frame of reference allows a better blending of AR and real world information, and thus avoiding a dominant perception of virtual information.