Influence of Visual Symbol’s User Background and Symbol Semantic Abstraction Level on User’s Cognition in AR Auxiliary Assembly Environment

This paper reports on a cognitive study on visual symbol in the field of AR auxiliary mechanical assembly, which is used to measure the cognitive mechanism of visual signs. Based on the Likert scale method, we conducted an experimental study. The independent variables were the semantic abstraction level of the symbol and the user background. The dependent variables include the specificity, complexity, familiarity, and semantic consistency. A total of 42 subjects participated in the experiment. The main findings of this study were as follows: (1) the semantic abstraction level of symbols has significant differences in the specificity, complexity, familiarity, and semantic consistency (P < 0.05); (2) The influence of user background on the cognition of symbols was not significant; (3) There were significant interactions effect among user background, semantic abstraction level and specificity (P < 0.05). In addition, this study provides a method for symbol design evaluation using data analysis in related working conditions in AR industrial applications.