Comparatively Testing the Effect of Reality Modality on Spatial Memory

Virtual and augmented reality hold great potential for understanding spatial cognition. However, it is unclear what effect reality modality has on our perception and interaction with our spatial surroundings. Here, participants performed a spatial memory task using passthrough augmented reality in the real world and in a virtual environment reconstructed by scanning the real environment. We found no significant differences by reality modality for subjective measures such as reported immersion, difficulty, enjoyment and cyber-sickness, nor did we find objective differences in performance. These results suggest limited effects on spatial tasks, and are promising for transfer between virtual and augmented scenarios.