Mixed-factorial experiment reveals increased cognitive load, longer completion times, and reduced positive emotion language during mixed reality collaboration, indicating task-dependent social costs.
With the rise of full-color, low-latency video passthrough in mixed reality (MR) headsets, this study explores how this medium’s technological characteristics influence group communication. Using a mixed-factorial design, 159 university students across 24 groups completed a spatial assembly task and a group discussion. Results indicate that video passthrough increased mental and physical demand during spatial tasks. Behavioral and linguistic analysis revealed that video passthrough mediation led to longer task completion times and lower levels of positive-emotion language compared to face-to-face settings. These findings suggest that the cognitive and social costs of video passthrough are contingent upon specific demand dimensions.
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Santoso et al. (2026) studied this question.
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