Tap into Reality: Understanding the Impact of Interactions on Presence and Reaction Time in Mixed Reality

TL;DR

This study investigates how interaction type (Direct vs Symbolic) and task type (Select vs Manipulate) affect presence and reaction time in mixed reality (MR) using a within-subjects design with $N=50$ participants across four conditions ($DM, SM, DS, SS$). Presence was measured with PQ and IPQ questionnaires and a real-time prompt, while reaction time was captured to cue changes; results show a robust negative relationship between presence and reaction time of $r = -0.54$ and that presence mediates the effect of interaction type on RT, with indirect effects of $-0.290$ (interaction) and $-0.221$ (task). Direct interactions yielded higher presence than symbolic ones, and task effects on RT were largely mediated by presence, highlighting the central role of naturalistic interactions in MR usability. These findings inform MR interface design by emphasizing direct interaction modalities to maximize presence and performance, and they establish reaction time as a promising objective proxy for presence in MR contexts.

Abstract

Enhancing presence in mixed reality (MR) relies on precise measurement and quantification. While presence has traditionally been measured through subjective questionnaires, recent research links presence with objective metrics like reaction time. Past studies examined this correlation with varying technical factors (object realism and behavior) and human conditioning, but the impact of interaction remains unclear. To answer this question, we conducted a within-subjects study (N=50) to explore the correlation between presence and reaction time across two interaction scenarios (direct and symbolic) with two tasks (selection and manipulation). We found that presence scores and reaction times are correlated (correlation coefficient of $-0.54$), suggesting that the impact of interaction on reaction time correlates with its effect on presence.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Model depicting the relationship between interaction types, tasks, presence, and reaction time.
• Figure 2: Reaction Time Decomposed.
• Figure 3: Hand gestures for selection task
• Figure 4: Hand gestures for the manipulation task.
• Figure 5: User study timeline consisting of pre-experiment procedures and users performing all four experimental conditions in one of the four orders devised using Latin square order. The four experimental blocks include DM, SM, DS, SS.