Effective Mitigation of Cognitive Load in Complex Mixed Reality Tasks

Callum Smith, Karen Rafferty, Vishal Sharma, Eben Rainey

2025

Abstract

Little work has been undertaken to investigate the effects of a high cognitive load in Mixed Reality (MR) headsets or successful mitigation techniques to reduce its related cognitive burden, especially compared to strictly fully immersive VR settings. We explore the measurement and mitigation of cognitive load in MR environments through the deployment and analysis of a novel set of visual and haptic interventions aimed at optimising the user’s experience and performance in complex tasks involving the use of proprioception. We conducted a study comparing fully immersive VR against pass-through enabled MR environments, employing focused blur, targeted lighting, targeted shadows, and haptic feedback to reduce cognitive load. Participants performed complex motor tasks in both environments for comparative measures, measuring cognitive load through standardized subjective scales, such as the NASA Task Load Index and Likert scales, mixed with electrodermal activity and electroencephalogram sensors. Results indicate that MR environments, augmented with tailored visual and haptic effects, demonstrate a reduction in cognitive load compared to their non-augmented states. These findings suggest that tailored visual effects within MR can offer a more conducive environment for task performance through the reduction of cognitive load.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Smith C., Rafferty K., Sharma V. and Rainey E. (2025). Effective Mitigation of Cognitive Load in Complex Mixed Reality Tasks. In Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-728-3, SciTePress, pages 506-517. DOI: 10.5220/0013373700003912

in Bibtex Style

@conference{hucapp25,
author={Callum Smith and Karen Rafferty and Vishal Sharma and Eben Rainey},
title={Effective Mitigation of Cognitive Load in Complex Mixed Reality Tasks},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP},
year={2025},
pages={506-517},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013373700003912},
isbn={978-989-758-728-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP
TI - Effective Mitigation of Cognitive Load in Complex Mixed Reality Tasks
SN - 978-989-758-728-3
AU - Smith C.
AU - Rafferty K.
AU - Sharma V.
AU - Rainey E.
PY - 2025
SP - 506
EP - 517
DO - 10.5220/0013373700003912
PB - SciTePress