Augmented reality affects behaviour

Augmented reality affects behaviour

AgenciesUpdated: Monday, June 03, 2019, 07:50 PM IST
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Washington: It turns out, augmented reality is capable of affecting people’s behaviour, in both physical world and in a digitally enhanced one. As part of the study, researchers found that after people had an experience in augmented reality (AR), simulated by wearing goggles that layer computer-generated content onto real-world environments, their interactions in their physical world changed. Even after their AR device was removed.

“We’ve discovered that using augmented reality technology can change where you walk, how you turn your head, how well you do on tasks, and how you connect socially with other physical people in the room,” said Jeremy Bailenson, co-author of the paper published in the Journal of PLOS.

According to the findings, while VR attempts to simulate a real-life environment and take the user out of the present setting, AR technology layers digital information atop the user’s physical surroundings. “In recent years, many technology companies have focused on developing augmented reality goggles and other products, shifting away from their previous emphasis on virtual reality,” Bailenson explained.

To examine how AR affected the way people behaved in social situations, researchers recruited 218 participants and conducted three studies. In the first two experiments, each participant interacted with a virtual avatar named Chris who would sit on a real chair in front of them.

The first study replicated traditional psychology finding known as social inhibition. Just as people complete easy tasks with ease and struggle with more challenging ones when they have a person watching them in the real world, the same held true when an avatar was watching study participants in augmented reality, the researchers found.

Another study tested whether participants would follow accepted social cues when interacting with avatar Chris. This was measured by tracking whether participants would sit on the chair that avatar Chris previously sat on. Researchers found that all participants who wore the AR headset sat on the empty chair next to Chris instead of sitting right on the avatar. Of those participants who were asked to take off the headset before choosing their seat, 72 per cent still chose to sit in the empty chair next to where Chris sat previously.

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