The effect of display methods of virtual character on persona effect, cognitive load, and attention in the augmented reality based learning environment

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of presentation methods of the virtual character in the augmented reality learning environment. For this study, the dependent variables were persona effect by the virtual character, cognitive load, and attention level in the augmented reality-based learning material. The participants were 54 college students, and three conditions were analyzed: 1) distributed presentation with a virtual character, 2) simultaneous presentation with a virtual character and 3) virtual character only condition. Three contrast analysis was conducted to measure the impact of presentation methods with a virtual character and 3d graphics. In order to meet the purpose of this analysis, three planned comparisons were conducted. The first contrast test was to identify a graphic effect, which was to compare 3D graphics presentation and virtual character only condition. The second contrast test was to test the distribution effect of the virtual character. It was to compare the conditions with one-by-one presentation and virtual character only condition. The last contrast one was to identify the effect of presenting graphics contents with the virtual character. The results revealed that the distribution effect was reported consistently with all of the dependent variables of persona effect, cognitive load, and attention. No effect of simultaneous effect was identified with any of the dependent variables. There were two significant differences of the graphic effect, the first contrast analysis, on one of the cognitive load factors and attention level. The result indicated that attention could be the primary factor to cause the distribution effect.