A study on the benefits of augmented reality in retaining working memory in assembly tasks: A focus on differences in gender

Previous research suggests that the Augmented Reality (AR) training is more effective for the novice assemblers who undergo considerable cognitive workload. However, the factor of gender, which might impact the above result, has not been investigated. Gender could be an additional factor that can impact over the post-training performance of novice assemblers. The performance indicator focused in this particular study is the learning curves of human subjects with two assembly treatments. The evidence of a learning curve was reflected by the assembly performance. Controlled experimentation was conducted together with the collection of qualitative information through direct observation and monitoring. Two main findings are: 1) AR helps both male and female trainees learn the assembly routine faster, and 2) AR training is more effective for both male and female assemblers than the 3D manual, whereas training with the 3D manual is more effective for male assemblers than for female assemblers. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.