Virtual artifact exhibitions in spatial computing environments: the impact of spatial information layout on user experience

Virtual exhibitions provide new possibilities for presenting historical artifacts in museums. In immersive virtual museum environments, spatial information layouts that organize artifact-related textual, visual, and interactive content play an important role in shaping how users perceive, explore, and engage with digital exhibitions. However, how spatial information layouts influence user experience in virtual exhibitions remains unclear. The actual research lacks empirical evidence regarding how spatial layouts affect user experience in virtual cultural heritage environments. This study investigates the effects of two layout factors, namely layout form (window view vs. spherical view) and layout flexibility (fixed vs. movable), on user experience in virtual museum artifact exhibitions. A 2 × 2 between-subjects controlled experiment was conducted using a virtual exhibition of Sanxingdui artifacts. User experience was evaluated through objective measures, including Electrodermal Activity (EDA), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), interaction behavior, and task duration, as well as subjective questionnaires assessing presence, cognitive load, satisfaction, interactivity, and engagement. The results show that the spherical layout significantly enhances users’ presence, satisfaction, interactivity, and engagement, while exhibiting disadvantages in terms of cognitive load. In terms of layout flexibility, movable layouts generally outperform fixed layouts in subjective user experience. The findings indicate that layout format primarily influences viewers’ presence and engagement in the context of cultural relic displays, whereas a higher degree of flexibility in information layout during the actual exhibition experience may affect viewers’ perceived level of interaction and cognitive effort. This study proposes a spatially adaptive exhibition strategy that balances immersion and information efficiency through structured spatial information layouts, providing design implications for future exhibition strategies in spatial computing environments.