Designing Effective and Engaging Visual Cues for Attention Guidance in VR : the Role of Color Contrast

Sammanfattning

This study investigates how visual cue design affects task performance and perceived presence in a virtual reality (VR) environment. Two cue types (particle and highlight), three colors (red, blue, yellow), and two opacity levels (α = 1.0, α = 0.5) were investigated in a visual search task involving 20 participants. The results show that perceptual color contrast relative to the surrounding environment was the primary factor affecting both task efficiency and perceived presence. Fully opaque cues with a strong contrast resulted in faster completion times, higher accuracy, and stronger presence ratings, whereas low-contrast cues blended into the environment and reduced performance. Qualitative findings further revealed that participants prioritized functionality and visual clarity over realism in cue design, and that highly visible cues did not reduce their sense of presence. Together, these results suggest that perceptual contrast is a key factor for effective attention guidance in VR and can support both performance and presence in visual search tasks. The study is limited by the restricted set of cue variations, use of a single environment, and a relatively small sample size of participants. Future work should explore additional environments and cue designs to further explore how perceptual contrast affects performance and presence in VR.