The Influence of Real and Virtual Environmental Clutter on Egocentric Distance Perception in Augmented Reality

Sodabe Bandali¹ (), Jeanine Stefanucci², Sarah Creem-Regehr³, Bobby Bodenheimer⁴; ¹Vanderbilt University, USA, ²University of Utah, USA

Accurate egocentric distance perception is essential for effective interaction in augmented reality (AR), yet distance judgments in AR are often biased, and they may be strongly influenced by visual context. Prior research has demonstrated that visually impoverished environments can lead to systematic underestimation of distance. However, AR combines real and virtual objects. The relative contribution of real-world versus virtual clutter to distance perception in AR is poorly understood. We examined how environmental clutter affects perceived egocentric distance when virtual targets are viewed through an optical see-through head-mounted display. Participants estimated distances to virtual targets located at 4, 5.5, and 7 m under three environmental conditions: no clutter, real-world clutter, and virtual clutter. Preliminary findings revealed consistent differences in distance perception across environmental conditions. Targets presented in the no-clutter environment were systematically underestimated across all distances. In contrast, the presence of real-world clutter substantially reduced underestimation, yielding distance estimates close to veridical performance. Virtual clutter produced intermedimate accuracy, improving performance relative to the no-clutter condition but not at the level observed with real-world clutter. This pattern was stable across distances, indicating that environmental context exerts a robust influence on egocentric distance perception in AR. These preliminary findings suggest that real-world visual structure plays an important role in distance perception in optical see- through AR. Leveraging real-world environmental cues may mitigate distance underestimation, with important implications for AR interface design and spatial task performance.