Investigating Search Among Physical and Virtual Objects Under Different Lighting Conditions.

By situating computer-generated content in the physical world, mobile augmented reality (AR) can support many tasks that involve effective search and inspection of physical environments. Currently, there is limited information regarding the viability of using AR in realistic wide-area outdoor environments and how AR experiences affect human behavior in these environments. Here, we conducted a wide-area outdoor AR user study ($n=48$) using a commercially available AR headset (Microsoft Hololens 2) to compare (1) user interactions with physical and virtual objects in the environment (2) the effects of different lighting conditions on user behavior and AR experience and (3) the impact of varying cognitive load on AR task performance.