Post by Julian Rasch

With CHI2026 only a month away, I want to share two papers I co-authored this year that examine how AR and VR design shape experience and interaction. One paper looks at what changes when collaborators can see each other’s gaze through AR in the real world. The other explores how transitions and multisensory cues shape immersive experiences in VR. Anticipation Without Acceleration: Benefits of Shared Gaze in Collocated Augmented Reality Collaboration (Julian Rasch, Vladislav Rusakov, Jan Leusmann, Florian Müller, and Albrecht Schmidt) examines shared gaze across different interaction spaces and task types. We found that shared gaze improved joint attention, anticipation, and the overall collaborative experience, but did not reliably improve task speed. The paper critically questions how far the benefits of shared gaze extend in these settings. Link to the paper: https://lnkd.in/dYc5NVd5 A Tree’s Perspective: Enhancing Nature Connectedness Through Transitional and Multisensory Virtual Reality Experiences (Lisa Townsend, Julian Rasch, Amy Grech, Bernhard Riecke, and Sven Mayer), led by Lisa, received an Honorable Mention Award. The paper shows how transitional and multisensory design can strengthen presence, embodiment, and nature connectedness in a tree embodiment scenario, with some effects lasting beyond the experience itself. The paper highlights how VR design can support transformative experiences through carefully staged transitions and multisensory framing. Link to the paper: https://lnkd.in/dcJ5-7gJ I would be glad to hear your thoughts on either paper and exchange ideas at CHI or beyond. I hope to see you at #CHI2026