Task difficulty impact on multitasking in mixed reality environments

Abstract

Mixed reality applications allow users to experience both physical and digital worlds simultaneously. However, limited research has compared multitasking performance in these two worlds with different difficulty levels. This study investigated the effect of task difficulty on mixed-reality multitasking performance. A block-matching task was used for the physical task experiment, and the N-back test was used for the virtual task experiment. Thirty-six participants completed eight experimental conditions and were tested on four measures: NASA-TLX, accuracy, priority, and hand use. Physical demand and effort subscales were significant in all the experimental manipulations: real-world tasks, virtual-world tasks, and multitasking. The priority variable was not found to be substantial. Most participants prioritized working on either real-world tasks or multitasking, leaving the virtual-world tasks to the least preferred. Such a study can empower instructional designers to tailor tasks that align with learners’ cognitive abilities for an optimal learning experience.