The sense of presence in augmented reality (AR) has been studied by multiple researchers through diverse applications and strategies. In addition to the valuable information provided to the scientific community, new questions keep being raised. These approaches vary from following the standards from virtual reality to ascertaining the presence of users’ experiences and new proposals for evaluating presence that specifically target AR environments. It is undeniable that the idea of evaluating presence across AR may be overwhelming due to the different scenarios that may be possible, whether this regards technological devices—from immersive AR headsets to the small screens of smartphones—or the amount of virtual information that is being added to the real scenario. Taking into account the recent literature that has addressed the sense of presence in AR as a true challenge given the diversity of ways that AR can be experienced, this study proposes a specific scope to address presence and other related forms of dimensions such as immersion, engagement, embodiment, or telepresence, when AR is used in games. This systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA methodology, carefully analysing all studies that reported visual games that include AR activities and somehow included presence data—or related dimensions that may be referred to as immersion-related feelings, analysis or results. This study clarifies what dimensions of presence are being considered and evaluated in AR games, how presence-related variables have been evaluated, and what the major research findings are. For a better understanding of these approaches, this study takes note of what devices are being used for the AR experience when immersion-related feelings are one of the behaviours that are considered in their evaluations, and discusses to what extent these feelings in AR games affect the player’s other behaviours.

Little is known about the impact of the addition of each stimulus in multisensory augmented reality experiences in cultural heritage contexts. This paper investigates the impact of different sensory conditions on a user’s sense of presence, enjoyment, knowledge about the cultural site, and value of the experience. Five different multisensory conditions, namely, Visual, Visual+Audio, Visual+Smell, and Visual+Audio+Smell conditions, and regular visit referred to as None condition, were evaluated by a total of 60 random visitors distributed across the specified conditions. According to the results, the addition of particular types of stimuli created a different impact on the sense of presence subscale scores, namely, on spatial presence, involvement, and experienced realism, but did not influence the overall presence score. Overall, the results revealed that the addition of stimuli improved enjoyment and knowledge scores and did not affect the value of the experience scores. We concluded that each stimulus has a differential impact on the studied variables, demonstrating that its usage should depend on the goal of the experience: smell should be used to privilege realism and spatial presence, while audio should be adopted when the goal is to elicit involvement.

The expansion of augmented reality across society, its availability in mobile platforms and the novelty character it embodies by appearing in a growing number of areas, have raised new questions related to people’s predisposition to use this technology in their daily life. Acceptance models, which have been updated following technological breakthroughs and society changes, are known to be great tools for predicting the intention to use a new technological system. This paper proposes a new acceptance model aiming to ascertain the intention to use augmented reality technology in heritage sites—the Augmented Reality Acceptance Model (ARAM). ARAM relies on the use of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) model’s constructs, namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions, to which the new and adapted constructs of trust expectancy, technological innovation, computer anxiety and hedonic motivation are added. This model was validated with data gathered from 528 participants. Results confirm ARAM as a reliable tool to determine the acceptance of augmented reality technology for usage in cultural heritage sites. The direct impact of performance expectancy, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation is validated as having a positive influence on behavioural intention. Trust expectancy and technological innovation are demonstrated to have a positive influence on performance expectancy whereas hedonic motivation is negatively influenced by effort expectancy and by computer anxiety. The research, thus, supports ARAM as a suitable model to ascertain the behavioural intention to use augmented reality in new areas of activity.

This research is focused on the importance of using modern technologies in preserving and exploring Cultural Heritage (CH). Specifically, Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to enhance the user experience related to cultural heritage. We briefly present the main technological approaches in CH and a state of the art in mobile augmented reality. The latest Software Development Kit (SDK) for building AR applications are reviewed and compared. The 3D object that participants could place in the real environment was obtained using photogrammetry, a popular and relatively easy to use digitization technique. The virtual object represents a fortified church and is part of a group of UNESCO monuments from the historical and ethnographical region called “Țara Bârsei”, located in Brasov, Romania. We also provided some guidelines to ensure an accurate 3D reconstruction of any object. We assess users’ perception regarding two mobile AR applications, one based on Project Tango while the other was developed using ARCore. Results confirm that AR improves user experience and increases the enjoyment of learning about cultural heritage.