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Immersive environments enable users to engage in embodied interaction, enhancing the sensemaking processes involved in completing tasks such as immersive analytics. Previous comparative studies on immersive analytics using augmented and virtual realities have revealed that users employ different strategies for data interpretation and text-based analytics depending on the environment. Our study seeks to investigate how augmented and virtual reality influences sensemaking processes in quantitative immersive analytics. Our results, derived from a diverse group of participants, indicate that users demonstrate comparable performance in both environments. However, it was observed that users exhibit a higher tolerance for cognitive load in VR and travel further in AR. Based on our findings, we recommend providing users with the option to switch between AR and VR, thereby enabling them to select an environment that aligns with their preferences and task requirements. 

As we develop computing platforms for augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMDs) technologies for social or workplace environments, understanding how users interact with notifications in immersive environments has become crucial. We researched effectiveness and user preferences of different interaction modalities for notifications, along with two types of notification display methods. In our study, participants were immersed in a simulated cooking environment using an AR-HMD, where they had to fulfill customer orders. During the cooking process, participants received notifications related to customer orders and ingredient updates. They were given three interaction modes for those notifications: voice commands, eye gaze and dwell, and hand gestures. To manage multiple notifications at once, we also researched two different notification list displays, one attached to the user’s hand and one in the world. Results indicate that participants preferred using their hands to interact with notifications and having the list of notifications attached to their hands. Voice and gaze interaction was perceived as having lower usability than touch