Measuring Visual Attention Capacity Across xReality

Augmented (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been applied very broadly in the recent past. While prior work emphasizes the potential of these technologies in various application domains, the process of visual attention in and across the contexts of AR/VR environments is not exhaustively explored yet. By now, visual attention in AR/VR environments has majorly been studied by means of overt attention (i.e. saccadic eye movements), self-report, and process-related visual attention proxies (like reaction time). In this work, we analyze covert visual attention based on the (psychological) Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), which allows us to quantify theory-based interpretable properties of the visual attention process. For example, the TVA allows us to measure the overall processing speed. We instantiate this TVA-based framework with a 30-participant explorative within-subjects study. The results show a decisive difference in visual attention between Reality (i.e. the neutral condition) and Virtual Reality and a weak difference between Reality and Augmented Reality. We discuss the consequences of our findings and provide ideas for future studies.