The memory glasses: subliminal vs. overt memory support with imperfect information

Wearables are frequently designed to support users en-gaged in complex “real world” activities, ranging from food inspection to ground combat. Unfortunately, wearables also have the potential to interfere with the very tasks they are designed to support, either by distracting the user or providing them with misleading information. In 2002 we published a pilot study suggesting that a subliminal visual cuing system might be an effective low-attention interaction strategy for just-in-time memory support. In this paper we present the results of a larger study demonstrating that not only is wearable subliminal cuing significantly effective (increasing performance by a factor of approximately 1.5, p = 0.02), but even incorrect sublim-inal cues can actually improve performance. By contrast, consciously-visible incorrect cues caused performance to degrade.