Cognitive-motor multitasking during outdoor spatial navigation in AR

Background: When navigating the surroundings, the concurrent execution of cognitive operations (e.g., using different technological devices) increases attentional load, potentially altering external object’s awareness and/or the own motor behavior. This phenomenon (cognitive-motor interference, CMI) has been usually investigated in laboratory-based settings allowing low degrees of spatial movements. Here, we availed of AR for its capacity of concurrently handling virtual and physical features to test action and cognition outdoors and in complex motion. Aims: Unlike laboratory-based walking experiments, we tested a more complex motor behavior by introducing sudden directional changes, which require a broader contextual overview and spatial orientation awareness. This was only possible through AR, which recreates hybrid experimental spaces without imposing physical constraints. We thus asked how attentional demands modulate behavioral performance of participants walking in different directions. Methods: Forty-five young participants performed a visual single-task for discriminating augmented peripheral targets, a navigation single-task consisting of finalized walking episodes to close augmented landmarks, and a dual-task combining the latter tasks. We evaluated the dual-tasking cost on cognitive and motor performance by analyzing reaction times, task accuracy, exploration time, and walking velocity, along with a subjective assessment of mental load. Results: A performance decrease resulted in the cognitive and motor domains under dual-task compared to single tasks, which was not subjectively perceived. Conclusion: Overall, we highlighted the consequences of cognitive-motor multi-tasking during distracted navigation by availing of AR. AR is thus a relevant tool for creating hybrid spaces that can be leveraged for investigating cognition and action in physical motion.