Cognitive mechanisms of self-focused augmented reality

ABSTRACT

Research has shown an association between extended reality (XR) use and perception and emotion. A better understanding of these relationships from a design perspective would help develop effective health communications. Drawing on objective self-awareness and self-focused attention theories, the studies included in this work describe three experiments that investigate relationships between self-focus, object presence, risk perceptions, causal attribution, negative affect, and other predictors of behavior. Focusing on hand hygiene during COVID-19, the first study hypothesized that self-focused augmented reality (AR) video filters (e.g., Snapchat Lenses and AR effects on Instagram) would induce higher risk perceptions, fear, and intentions in a health communication context. A web-based between-subjects experiment found self-focused AR video filters to result in higher behavioral intentions through increased perceived threat severity and susceptibility. Study 2 focused on COVID-19 vaccination intentions. The study evaluated the impact of mediating attention to self (with AR video filters) on causal attribution, finding an increase in self-oriented attributions of risk, further mediating vaccine outcome expectancy and vaccination intentions. Study 3 revisited Study 1 investigating the potential role of object presence. This final study evaluated the individual and combined effects of self-focused attention and object presence in the case of indoor air pollution communication when presented in different forms of AR. Findings indicated an impact on perceived threat susceptibility, severity, and negative impact as mediated by object presence for both AR overlaying digital content on participant's environment or a mirror reflection of themselves. Private-self awareness was found to mediate an impact on risk perceptions and affect when digital content was overlayed on one's environment. Additional findings related to overlaying content on the self highlighted the potential methodological challenges of conducting remote AR studies. The studies described here contribute to human-computer interaction (HCI), XR, and health communication research, expanding the current knowledge of the relationships between self-focused AR designs, user perception, affect, and behavioral intentions. Theoretical contributions include a deeper understanding of (1) the roles of self-focused attention and object presence as cognitive mechanisms of self-focused AR, (2) new considerations of positive affect as a mechanism, and (3) a framework for future theory building for self-focused AR research. Practical contributions include design recommendations for assessing, utilizing, and mitigating affect, risk perceptions, and causal attributions during the development of AR experiences. Methodological contributions include the development of novel methods for remote, unmoderated AR studies and related insights. Collectively, this work aims to contribute to the evaluation of a popularized form of AR to maintain the safety and well-being of end-users. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)