JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In recent years, augmented reality (AR), especially markerless augmented reality (MAR), has been more prevalently used to create training games in an attempt to improve humans' cognitive functions. This has been driven by studies claiming that MAR provides users with more immersive experiences that are situated in the real world. Currently, there are no studies have scientifically investigated the immersion experience of users in a MAR cognitive training game.

Objective:

This study investigates students’ immersion experiences in a novel MAR n-back game.

Methods:

The n -back task is a continuous performance task that is commonly used as an assessment in cognitive neuroscience to measure working memory (WM) capacity. There were two experiments conducted in this study that coordinated with two types of immersion questionnaires: the modified Immersive Experiences Questionnaire (IEQ) and the Augmented Reality Immersion (ARI) questionnaire. Two groups of students from two universities in China joined the study, with 60 participants for the first experiment (a randomized controlled experiment) and 51 participants for the second experiment.

Results:

As a result, both groups of students experienced immersion in the MAR n-back game. However, the MAR n-back training group did not experience stronger immersion than the traditional (2D) n-back control group in the first experiment. The results also showed that males felt deeply involved with the AR environment, which resulted in obtaining higher levels of immersion than females in the MAR n-back game.

Conclusions:

Both groups of students experienced immersion in the MAR n-back game. Moreover, both the modified IEQ and API have the potential to be used as an instrument to measure immersion in MAR n-back game settings. Clinical Trial: Prior to beginning the study, ethics approval was obtained from the institutional ethics committee in East China Normal University under approval number: HR 055-2019.