In this paper, the first virtual reality (VR) photography application that incorporates elements on panoramic images to assess short-term spatial memory is presented. It also allows the interaction with these elements. A study was conducted (N = 50) to compare participants’ performance outcomes and subjective experience when using a VR application with and without panoramic photography. The results show that both applications are effective in assessing short-term spatial memory. The results with panoramic photography include: 1) It was effective for short-term recall since, after using the application, the participants were able to verbally recall the objects and place them without significant differences with respect to the objects correctly placed; 2) The performance outcomes were independent of age and gender; 3) The perceived level of presence was directly related to experiencing less cybersickness when using the application; 4) The level of satisfaction was directly related to perceived enjoyment, concentration, usability, competence, calmness, and expertise; 5) The more the familiarity with VR applications, the less the perceived cybersickness. Finally, the application offers two main advantages: 1) The evaluators can customize the environment by adding as many elements as desired to the panoramic photograph; 2) It could be especially suitable for groups with reduced mobility.

Patients with chronic diseases can improve their quality of life with therapeutic education. Augmented Reality (AR) can be used to develop therapeutic tools. This paper presents a study in which an AR app to support therapeutic education in diabetes was used. The app supports the learning about carbohydrate portions contained in different foods. The virtual food is shown on a real dish. Sixty-six children with diabetes participated in our study. The children were divided into three groups that used three different mobile devices. The main differences between the three devices were camera resolution and display size. We used two tablets with similar display size and different camera resolution (2-megapixel and 8-megapixel), and a smartphone with about half of the diagonal display size of the tablets and with an 8-megapixel camera. The results indicated that the children learned about carbohydrate estimation by using our app. There were no statistically significant differences for the knowledge acquired, or for the perceived usability and satisfaction among the three groups. This result points out that our AR app is effective as a therapeutic education tool independently of the features of the device used.

Museum visitors need support tools to facilitate their informal learning. In this paper, we present ARCoins, an augmented reality app to support informal learning about numismatics. Our app helps museum visitors to read the deteriorated text of coins and also shows additional information that offers a clear idea of the general meaning of the coinage of the coins. The app recognizes the real coins. We carried out a study to determine the potential of the app. A total of twenty-eight subjects between 19 and 65 years old participated in the study. The participants observed the real coins using ARCoins and a magnifying glass. From the results, ARCoins allows the participants to read the deteriorated text and even observe the most imperceptible details of the coins. There were statistically significant differences for reading the text when the participants used ARCoins and the magnifying glass in favour of ARCoins. The participants preferred ARCoins for a more enriching museum experience. ARCoins could be a valuable AR app for informal learning about numismatics in museums.

We present an interactive game for assessing auditory and spatial memory. We compared the performance of children with and without inattention using the game and using a variety of classical tools for assessment of auditory and spatial memory. The children with inattention showed statistically worse performance in the game. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups for the satisfaction and interaction outcomes. Therefore, our game could be a good tool for distinguishing performances of children with and without inattention.

Natural User Interfaces and advanced displays can be combined to provide rich learning experiences. In this paper, we present the development and validation of a serious game that combines autostereoscopy and Natural User Interfaces for dental learning in higher education. The game includes two modes: neutral and real-world background. A comparative study to check different aspects was carried out. A total of 33 dentistry students participated in the study. From the results, the students increased significantly their knowledge about teeth morphology. Most of the students preferred the neutral background for dental learning. The real-world background was identified as being more suitable for leisure activities.

Advances in display devices are facilitating the integration of stereoscopic visualization in our daily lives. However, autostereoscopic visualization has not been extensively exploited. In this paper, we present a system that combines Augmented Reality (AR) and autostereoscopic visualization. We also present the first study that compares different aspects using an autostereoscopic display with AR and VR, in which 39 children from 8 to 10 years old participated. In our study, no statistically significant differences were found between AR and VR. However, the scores were very high in nearly all of the questions, and the children also scored the AR version higher in all cases. Moreover, the children explicitly preferred the AR version (81%). For the AR version, a strong and significant correlation was found between the use of the autostereoscopic screen in games and seeing the virtual object on the marker. For the VR version, two strong and significant correlations were found. The first correlation was between the ease of play and the use of the rotatory controller. The second correlation was between depth perception and the game global score. Therefore, the combinations of AR and VR with autostereoscopic visualization are possibilities for developing edutainment systems for children

This article presents an optical see-through (OST) Augmented Reality system for the treatment of phobia to small animals. The technical characteristics of the OST system are described, and a comparative study of the sense of presence and anxiety in a nonphobic population (24 participants) using the OST and an equivalent video see-though (VST) system is presented. The results indicate that if all participants are analyzed, the VST system induces greater sense of presence than the OST system. If the participants who had more fear are analyzed, the two systems induce a similar sense of presence. For the anxiety level, the two systems provoke similar and significant anxiety during the experiment.

This paper presents an Augmented Reality (AR) game for learning words. Thirty-two children played the AR game and the equivalent real game. We have compared the results of the two games. The results indicate that children did not found significant differences between the two games except for one question, but 81% of the children liked most the AR game.

In this paper, we present an Augmented Reality (AR) game for finding and learning about endangered animals in a fun way. It uses tangible cubes as the user interface. This game was included in the activity program of the Summer School of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. Forty-six children played the AR game and the equivalent real game. We have compared the results of the two games. The results indicate that children enjoyed playing the AR game more than playing the real game and that they perceived the AR game to be more fun than the real game. They also preferred the AR game to the real one. The children perceived the real game as being easier to play than the AR game. The children also seemed to learn about the subject of endangered animals.

Augmented Reality has been used for developing systems with learning purposes. In this paper, we present an Augmented Reality system for learning the interior of the human body. We have tested the system with children of the Summer School of the Technical University of Valencia. In this test we have analysed if the use of a Head-Mounted Display or a typical monitor influence in the experience of the children. Results do not offer statistical significant differences using both visualization systems and confirm that children enjoyed learning with the system and consider it as useful tool not only for learning the interior of the human body but also for learning other subjects.

Augmented Reality has been used in many areas and it has proved to be useful for storytelling. These systems are adequate for edutainment. In this paper, we present two Augmented Reality interactive storytelling systems that use tangible cubes. The first shows the story in only one face of the cube and the second presents the story in all visible faces of the cube. The progress of the story can be chosen using two different tangible interfaces. We have tested the systems with the children of the Summer School of the Technical University of Valencia. In these tests we have analysed if the use of a Head-Mounted Display or a typical monitor influence in the experience of the user. Results do not offer statistical significant differences using both visualization systems and confirm that children enjoyed playing with the systems.

Augmented reality has been used in many fields, but it has not been used to treat psychological disorders. Augmented reality presents several advantages respect to: the traditional treatment of psychological disorders and virtual reality treatments. In this paper we present the first augmented reality system for the treatment of phobia to cockroaches. Our system has been developed using ARToolkit software. It has been tested with one patient and the results have been very satisfactory. At first of the exposure session the patient was not able to approach to a real cockroach and after the exposure session using our augmented reality system, the patient was able to approach to a real cockroach, to interact with it and to kill it by herself. This first result is very encouraging and it demonstrates that augmented reality exposure is effective for the treatment of this kind of phobias.