Background Wayfinding has been adopted in several intense evacuation and navigation simulations; however, the use of biometric measurements for characterizing physiological outcomes has been somewhat overlooked and applied only under limited laboratory conditions. Methods Twenty-four participants took part in a virtual reality (VR) experiment using a wayfinding installation with the Oculus Rift S head-mounted display (HMD). They were immersed in a simulation of a burning underground parking lot and tasked to navigate to the exit. The purpose of this research was to investigate the high-level effect of wayfinding assistive lights on behavioral, physiological, and psychological outcomes. Participants were split into two groups: the control group was exposed to a scene without assistive lights, and the experimental group was exposed to the same scene with assistive lights. Results Results indicate there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in traveled distance, pauses, turns, or game completion time. Curiously, differences between the two groups in heart rate (HR) outcomes were found to be statistically significant, with subjects in the control group displaying an increasing HR trend during simulation. Conclusions This finding, in accordance with previous studies that have shown the efficacy of landmarks and wayfinding affordances in reducing cognitive demands, suggests that assistive lights might contribute to improved brain wiring connectivity during the game. We discuss these findings in the context of a rich wayfinding affordances literature.

The surge of COVID-19 has introduced a new threat surface as malevolent actors are trying to benefit from the pandemic. Because of this, new information sources and visualization tools about COVID-19 have been introduced into the workflow of frontline practitioners. As a result, analysts are increasingly required to shift their focus between different visual displays to monitor pandemic related data, security threats, and incidents. Augmented reality (AR) smart glasses can overlay digital data to the physical environment in a comprehensible manner. However, the real-life use situations are often complex and require fast knowledge acquisition from multiple sources. In this study we report results from an experiment with six subjects using an AR overlaid information interface coupled with traditional computer monitors. Our goal was to evaluate a multi tasking setup with traditional monitors and an AR headset where notifications from the new COVID-19 MISP instance were visualized. Our results indicate that better situational awareness does translate to increased task performance, but at the cost of a gender gap that requires further attention.

There is a need for creating new educational paths for beginners as well as experienced students for cyber security. Recently, ethical hacking gamification platforms like Capture the Flag (CTF) have grown in popularity, providing newcomers with entertaining and engaging material that encourages the development of offensive and defensive cyber security skills. However, augmented reality (AR) applications for the development of cyber security skills remain mostly an untapped resource. The purpose of this work-in-progress study is to investigate whether CTF games in AR might improve learning in information security and increase security situational awareness (SA). In particular, we investigate how AR gamification influences training and overall experience in the context of ethical hacking tasks. To do this, we developed a Unity-based ethical hacking game in which participants complete CTF-style objectives. The game requires the player to execute basic Linux terminal commands, such as listing files in folders and reading data stored on virtual machines. Each gameplay session lasts up to twenty minutes and consists of three objectives. The game may be altered or made more challenging by modifying the virtual machines. In a pilot, our game was tested with six individuals separated into two groups: an expert group (N=3) and a novice group (N=3). The questionnaire given to the expert group examined their SA during the game, whereas the questionnaire administered to the novice group measured learning and remembering certain things they did in the game. In this paper we discuss our observations from the pilot. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → User studies; Mixed / augmented reality; • Security and privacy → Usability in security and privacy.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can use data from non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) to transform different brain signals into binary code, often aiming to gain control utility of an end-effector (e.g mouse cursor). In the past several years, advances in wearable and immersive technologies have made it possible to integrate EEG with virtual reality (VR) headsets. These advances have enabled a new generation of user studies that help researchers improve understanding of various issues in current VR design (e.g. cybersickness and locomotion). The main challenge for integrating EEG-based BCIs into VR environments is to develop communication architectures that deliver robust, reliable and lossless data flows. Furthermore, user comfort and near real-time interactivity create additional challenges. We conducted two experiments in which a consumer-grade EEG headband (Muse2) was utilized to assess the feasibility of an EEG-based BCI in virtual environments. We first conducted a pilot experiment that consisted of a simple task of object re-scaling inside the VR space using focus values generated from the user’s EEG. The subsequent study experiment consisted of two groups (control and experimental) performing two tasks: telekinesis and teleportation. Our user research study shows the viability of EEG for real-time interactions in non-serious applications such as games. We further suggest that a simplified way of calculating the mean EEG values is adequate for this type of use. We , in addition, discuss the findings to help improve the design of user research studies that deploy similar EEG-based BCIs in VR environments.

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