{"id":2697,"date":"2026-03-04T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2026-05-09T08:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T08:40:11","slug":"new-publication-can-immersion-protect-us-from-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/new-publication-can-immersion-protect-us-from-distraction\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Immersion Protect us From Distraction?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new paper by HICUP Lab researchers, in collaboration with the Department of Information Science of Stellenbosch University<\/a>, has been published in the International Journal of Human\u2013Computer Interaction (Taylor & Francis)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper, titled “Can Immersion Protect us From Distraction? The Impact of Real-World Distractions on Learning in Augmented Reality”<\/a><\/strong>, is co-authored by Klen \u010copi\u010d Pucihar<\/a>, Karolina Trajkovska<\/a>, Maheshya Weerasinghe<\/a>, Ali Waqas, Douglas A. Parry<\/a>, Daniel B. le Roux<\/a>, and Matja\u017e Kljun<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study tested whether augmented reality can protect learners from everyday distractions such as phone calls, notifications, and office noise during a vocabulary learning task. The research found that AR users felt less distracted and remembered less irrelevant distracting information, but AR did not improve learning performance; in fact, distraction-related performance decline was greater in AR, suggesting that AR annotations alone may not be enough to shield learners from real-world interruptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publication:<\/strong>
\u010copi\u010d Pucihar, K., Trajkovska, K., Weerasinghe, M., Waqas, A., Parry, D. A., le Roux, D. B., & Kljun, M. (2026). Can Immersion Protect us From Distraction? The Impact of Real-World Distractions on Learning in Augmented Reality.\u00a0International Journal of Human\u2013Computer Interaction<\/em>, 1\u201321. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/10447318.2026.2633224<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract:<\/strong>
While many digital distractions can be managed, real-world interruptions, such as phone calls, notifications, and office noise, are harder to control and can harm productivity, well-being, and learning. Mixed reality systems like Augmented Reality (AR) are often described as immersive\u2014a property which might protect users from such disruptions. We tested this assumption by comparing a head-mounted AR interface that overlays digital annotations on physical objects with a traditional flat screen during vocabulary learning under common office distractions. In a user study (n\u00a0= 32), AR users reported feeling less distracted and recalled less task-irrelevant information, but their learning performance did not improve. Instead, distraction-related performance decline was greater in AR. Physiological and self-report measures showed no reduction in effort or workload, and participants with higher auditory distractibility did not benefit. Overall, AR annotation alone may not sufficiently shield learners from real-world distractions, motivating new design approaches.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new paper by HICUP Lab researchers, in collaboration with the Department of Information Science of Stellenbosch University, has been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-news","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2702,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hicup.famnit.upr.si\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}