Augmented Reality (AR) offers promising opportunities to enhance learning, but its mechanisms and effects are not yet fully understood. As learning becomes increasingly personalized, considering individual learner characteristics becomes more important. This study investigates the moderating effect of spatial ability on learning experience with AR in the context of robot programming. A between-subjects experiment ($N=71$) compared conventional robot programming to an AR-assisted approach using a head-mounted display. Participants' spatial ability was assessed using the Mental Rotation Test. The learning experience was measured through the System Usability Scale (SUS) and cognitive load. The results indicate that AR support does not significantly improve the learning experience compared to the conventional approach. However, AR appears to have a compensatory effect on the influence of spatial ability. In the control group, spatial ability was significantly positively associated with SUS scores and negatively associated with extraneous cognitive load, indicating that higher spatial ability predicts a better learning experience. In the AR condition, these relationships were not observable, suggesting that AR mitigated the disadvantage typically experienced by learners with lower spatial abilities. These findings suggest that AR can serve a compensatory function by reducing the influence of learner characteristics. Future research should further explore this compensatory role of AR to guide the design of personalized learning environments that address diverse learner needs and reduce barriers for learners with varying cognitive profiles.

翻译：增强现实（AR）为促进学习提供了广阔前景，但其作用机制与效果尚未被完全理解。随着学习日益个性化，考量学习者的个体特征变得愈发重要。本研究探讨了在机器人编程情境下，空间能力对AR学习体验的调节作用。一项被试间实验（$N=71$）对比了传统机器人编程与使用头戴式显示器的AR辅助方法。采用心理旋转测验评估参与者的空间能力。学习体验通过系统可用性量表（SUS）和认知负荷进行测量。结果表明，与传统方法相比，AR支持并未显著改善学习体验。然而，AR似乎对空间能力的影响产生了补偿效应。在对照组中，空间能力与SUS得分呈显著正相关，与外部认知负荷呈显著负相关，表明更高的空间能力预示着更好的学习体验。在AR条件下，这些关联并未显现，这表明AR缓解了通常由空间能力较低的学习者所经历的不利处境。这些发现表明，AR可以通过减少学习者特征的影响来发挥补偿功能。未来的研究应进一步探索AR的这种补偿作用，以指导设计能够满足多样化学习者需求、并为不同认知特征的学习者降低障碍的个性化学习环境。