Beyond Symbols: Motion Perception Cues Enhance Dual-Task Performance with Wearable Directional Guidance

Abstract: Directional cues are crucial for environmental interaction. Conventional methods rely on symbolic visual or auditory reminders that require semantic interpretation, a process that proves challenging in demanding dual-tasking scenarios. We introduce a novel alternative for conveying directional cues on wearable displays: directly triggering motion perception using monocularly presented peripheral stimuli. This approach is designed for low visual interference, with the goal of reducing the need for gaze-switching and the complex cognitive processing associated with symbols. User studies demonstrate our method's potential to robustly convey directional cues. Compared to a conventional arrow-based technique in a demanding dual-task scenario, our motion-based approach resulted in significantly more accurate interpretation of these directional cues ($p=.008$) and showed a trend towards reduced errors on the concurrent primary task ($p=.066$).