Intuitive Interactions in Extended Reality (XR): A Scoping Review

Interactions in extended reality (XR) are often described as “intuitive,” but it is unclear what justifies these claims. The goal of this scoping review was to explore how XR interaction techniques are assessed for intuitiveness in light of theoretical views of intuitive interaction. A systematic search was conducted, yielding 175 unique results. Thirty-seven peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria and were coded to identify XR type, interaction device, and comparison conditions. A priori coding was used to identify measures of intuitive interactions associated with effectiveness, cognitive effort, and subjective fluency. Many studies provided measures of effectiveness (45%) and subjective fluency (57.5%), but few included objective measures of cognitive effort. Only one study evaluated all three characteristics. Even so, 62.5% of studies claimed their interaction technique was intuitive. This review reveals variability in assessing intuitive interactions as well as a gap between theoretical conceptualizations of intuitiveness and measurements of intuitiveness.