Searching Through Complex Worlds: Visual Search and Spatial Regularity Memory in Mixed Reality

2026-02-20

AI Summary

This study investigates how environmental complexity, virtual content depth, spatial layout, and secondary tasks influence visual search efficiency and implicit memory for spatial regularities in mixed reality. Employing a mixed-reality experimental paradigm that integrates behavioral performance measures, subjective workload assessments, and repeated spatial configurations, the research reveals that complex environments and greater virtual depth significantly impair search efficiency without elevating perceived cognitive load. Although a concurrent auditory secondary task does not degrade search performance, it increases subjective workload. Critically, despite participants’ inability to explicitly recognize repeated spatial layouts, they implicitly leverage these regularities to substantially enhance search efficiency, demonstrating a robust mechanism of implicit spatial learning in mixed reality contexts.

Technology Category

• Search and Optimization: Mixed Discrete/Continuous Search
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior

Application Category

• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Vertical and domain-specific search
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

Visual search is a core component of mixed reality (MR) interactions, influenced by the complexities of MR application contexts. In this paper, we investigate how prevalent factors in MR influence visual search performance and spatial regularity memory -- including the physical environment complexity, secondary task presence, virtual content depth and spatial layout configurations. Contrary to prior work, we found that the secondary auditory task did not have a significant main effect on visual search performance, while significantly elevating higher perceived workload measures in all conditions. Complex environments and varied virtual elements depths significantly hinder visual search, but did not significantly increase perceived workload measures. Finally, participants did not explicitly recognize repeated spatial configurations of virtual elements, but performed significantly better when searching repeated spatial configurations, suggesting implicit memory of spatial regularities. Our work presents novel insights on visual search and highlights key considerations when designing MR for different application contexts.

Problem

• visual search
• spatial regularity memory
• mixed reality
• environment complexity
• virtual content depth

Innovation

• visual search
• spatial regularity memory
• mixed reality
• implicit memory
• cognitive workload