Comparative Study on 2D and 3D User Interface for Eliminating Cognitive Loads in Augmented Reality Repetitive Tasks

The two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces have been a prominent topic of augmented reality (AR) research, and their impact on the efficacy and usability of one-time tasks has been extensively examined. As AR is increasingly adopted in industry for repetitive tasks, there is an urgent need for research into the effect of the 2D and 3D user interfaces. In this study, we developed two prototypes of the user interfaces and conducted a comparison study with forty participants to assess their respective influence on cognitive load, perceived usability, and learnability. The results showed that the two user interfaces differed significantly in cognitive load and perceived usability. In particular, the 3D user interfaces exhibited substantially shorter eye blinking durations, shorter eye fixation durations, less dispersed eye gaze areas, lower subjective ratings of cognitive load, and higher overall scores of perceived usability than the 2D user interfaces. However, there was no difference in learnability between the two user interfaces throughout the repetitive tasks.