Visual Assembly Guidance under Cognitive Load: Insights from an Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract

Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) in assembly has been shown to improve productivity by augmenting work instructions. Due to this reason, SAR is frequently used to support workers with disabilities in performing new assembly tasks. Although this form of assembly guidance promises to improve learning, little is known about the optimal design of instructions when working under cognitive load. In this paper, we investigate differences in the visual perception of assembly instructions projected by a SAR system in the presence of cognitive load. Through an exploratory study with five participants, we induced cognitive load through a concurrent counting task while assembling large-sized toy building blocks. Results show that under high cognitive load, individuals followed visual cues less frequently, with increased eye saccade velocity.