Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) annotations embedded geo-specifically within the environment in enhancing situational awareness, sense-making, and decision-making within a virtual reality (VR) simulation. We aim to explore the extent to which annotated, information-embedded environments affect users’ decision-making, sense-making, situational awareness, as well as the perceived usability of the interface in a simulated disaster response scenario.
You will wear a head-mounted display (HMD) and navigate a virtual urban environment. In each trial, you’ll receive a mission-relevant question (e.g., “Which building is safest to use for evacuation?”) and interact with embedded AR annotations to guide your decision. Annotations will appear in a layered format—categorized by data type and attached to locations in the scene. You may encounter conflicting or irrelevant information and will be able to delete annotations you deem inaccurate.
Study Duration: The experiment will take approximately 75-90 minutes.
Compensation: After the experiment, you will be compensated in cash up to $40.