Purpose

Metaverse, that is extended reality (XR)-based technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), are increasingly believed to facilitate fundamental human practice in the future. One of the vanguards of this development has been the consumption domain, where the multi-modal and multi-sensory technology-mediated immersion is expected to enrich consumers' experience. However, it remains unclear whether these expectations have been warranted in reality and whether, rather than enhancing the experience, metaverse technologies inhibit the functioning and experience, such as cognitive functioning and experience.

Design/methodology/approach

This study utilizes a 2 (VR: yes vs no) × 2 (AR: yes vs no) between-subjects laboratory experiment. A total of 159 student participants are randomly assigned to one condition — a brick-and-mortar store, a VR store, an AR store and an augmented virtuality (AV) store — to complete a typical shopping task. Four spatial attention indicators — visit shift, duration shift, visit variation and duration variation — are compared based on attention allocation data converted from head movements extracted from recorded videos during the experiments.

Findings

This study identifies three essential effects of XR technologies on consumers' spatial attention allocation: the inattention effect, acceleration effect and imbalance effect. Specifically, the inattention effect (the attentional visit shift from showcased products to the environmental periphery) appears when VR or AR technology is applied to virtualize the store and disappears when AR and VR are used together. The acceleration effect (the attentional duration shift from showcased products to the environmental periphery) exists in the VR store. Additionally, AR causes an imbalance effect (the attentional duration variation increases horizontally among the showcased products).

Originality/value

This study provides valuable empirical evidence of how VR and AR influence consumers' spatial bias in attention allocation, filling the research gap on cognitive function in the metaverse. This study also provides practical guidelines for retailers and XR designers and developers.

中文翻译：

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元宇宙中的注意力：扩展现实购物中空间注意力分配的实验

目的

元宇宙是基于扩展现实 (XR) 的技术，例如增强现实 (AR) 和虚拟现实 (VR)，人们越来越相信它能够促进未来人类的基本实践。这一发展的先锋之一是消费领域，多模式和多感官技术介导的沉浸式体验有望丰富消费者的体验。然而，目前尚不清楚这些期望在现实中是否得到保证，以及元宇宙技术是否不是增强体验，而是抑制功能和体验，例如认知功能和体验。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究采用 2（VR：是与否）× 2（AR：是与否）受试者间实验室实验。总共 159 名学生参与者被随机分配到一个条件——一家实体店、一家 VR 商店、一家 AR 商店和一家增强虚拟 (AV) 商店——来完成一项典型的购物任务。根据实验期间从录制视频中提取的头部运动转换而来的注意力分配数据，对四个空间注意力指标——访问转移、持续时间转移、访问变化和持续时间变化进行比较。

发现

本研究确定了XR技术对消费者空间注意力分配的三个基本影响：注意力不集中效应、加速效应和不平衡效应。具体来说，当应用VR或AR技术对商店进行虚拟化时，注意力不集中效应（注意力从展示的产品转移到环境外围）会出现，而当AR和VR一起使用时，注意力不集中效应就会消失。VR商店中存在加速效应（注意力从展示的产品转移到周围环境的持续时间）。此外，AR 会造成不平衡效应（所展示产品的注意力持续时间变化水平增加）。

原创性/价值

这项研究为VR和AR如何影响消费者注意力分配的空间偏差提供了有价值的经验证据，填补了虚拟宇宙认知功能的研究空白。这项研究还为零售商和 XR 设计者和开发者提供了实用指南。