Role of Dynamic Affordance and Cognitive Load in the Design of Extended Reality based Simulation Environments for Surgical Contexts

In this paper, HCI-based design criteria for the Extended Reality (XR) based training environments. XR is an umbrella term used to describe Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) training environments are presented. The design criteria explored in the paper help lay a foundation for the creation of Human Centric XR environments to train users in an orthopedic surgical procedure. The HCI-based perspective presented in the paper investigates the criteria such as affordance and cognitive load during the design. The paper focuses on the design of XR based environments based on the participatory design approach and information-centric modeling. Further, the paper delineates the implementation of the XR based environments and a set of attributes that guide and influence the content of the environments. Testing and assessment strategy has also been described integrating the design thinking to the assessment and providing insights into the impact of such HCI-based criteria on participants' acquisition of skills and knowledge during interactions with the XR environments.