Cognitive engineering

Sense of agency refers to the feeling of control over actions and their consequences. In this article I summarise what we currently know about sense of agency; looking at how it is measured and what theories there are to explain it. I then explore some of the potential applications of this research, something that the sense of agency research field has been slow to identify and implement. This is a pressing concern given the increasing importance of ‘research impact’.

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What Is the Sense of Agency and Why Does it Matter

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Multifaceted trust in tourism service robots

It is a challenge to synthesize all-in-one molecular networks that are autonomously self-healable over a wide temperature range (from subzero to high), transparent, stretchable, and conductive. Her...

Autonomous Self-Healing, Antifreezing, and Transparent Conductive Elastomers

The sense of agency is the experience of controlling both one's body and the external environment. Although the sense of agency has been studied extensively, there is a paucity of studies in applied "real-life" situations. One applied domain that seems highly relevant is human-computer-interaction (HCI), as an increasing number of our everyday agentive interactions involve technology. Indeed, HCI has long recognized the feeling of control as a key factor in how people experience interactions with technology. The aim of this review is to summarize and examine the possible links between sense of agency and understanding control in HCI. We explore the overlap between HCI and sense of agency for computer input modalities and system feedback, computer assistance, and joint actions between humans and computers. An overarching consideration is how agency research can inform HCI and vice versa. Finally, we discuss the potential ethical implications of personal responsibility in an ever-increasing society of technology users and intelligent machine interfaces.

/pdf/the-experience-of-agency-in-human-computer-interactions-a-5cshkp1811.pdf

The experience of agency in human-computer interactions: a review.

While the technology underlying speech interfaces has improved in recent years, our understanding of the human side of speech interactions remains limited. This paper provides new insight on one important human aspect of speech interactions: the sense of agency - defined as the experience of controlling one's own actions and their outcomes. Two experiments are described. In each case a voice command is compared with keyboard input. Agency is measured using an implicit metric: intentional binding. In both experiments we find that participants' sense of agency is significantly reduced for voice commands as compared to keyboard input. This finding presents a fundamental challenge for the design of effective speech interfaces. We reflect on this finding and, based on current theory in HCI and cognitive neuroscience, offer possible explanations for the reduced sense of agency observed in speech interfaces.

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Empirical Evidence for a Diminished Sense of Agency in Speech Interfaces

Interactive digital signage is increasingly deployed in urban environments, from airports and train stations, to cinemas and shopping malls, whilst their integration into public spaces introduces new possibilities in multimedia presentation. In this paper, we explore the impact of mid-air haptic feedback on user engagement during gesture-based interactions with digital posters. To that end, a user study with seventeen participants was undertaken with two independent variables: interactivity (high/low), and mid-air haptic cues (on/off), whilst user engagement and emotional affect was measured with respect to various metrics. In this first attempt to understand the significance of mid-air haptic interactions for digital signage, we found increased user engagement levels, comparable to, if not greater than those achieved by content gamification. In particular, our analysis suggests that mid-air haptic feedback significantly improved usability and aesthetic appeal in comparison to digital signage without haptic feedback. Similarly, a higher level of gamification was also found to boost user engagement and helped to offer more compelling experiences with digital signage.

User engagement for mid-air haptic interactions with digital signage

This demo presents the concept of Interactive Digital Signage with Haptics, where users can interact with public digital screens with their bare hands, utilizing tracking technology and ultrasonic mid-air haptic feedback. Using these three main components: a digital screen, a tracking device, and Ultrahaptics technology for tactile feedback in mid-air, users are offered a multi-sensory experience that can potentially dramatically improve the advertising experience, increasing brand engagement, dwell time and brand recall. To this end, we present an example of a movie poster that transforms into an interactive mini game.

Touchless Tactile Displays for Digital Signage: Mid-air Haptics meets Large Screens

Ultrasonic mid-air tactile displays offer a unique combination of high spatial and temporal resolution and can stimulate a wide range of tactile frequencies. Leveraging those features, a new modulation technique producing spatially distributed tactile sensations has recently been introduced. This new approach, referred to as Spatiotemporal Modulation (STM), draws lines, curves and shapes on users’ palm by moving a mid-air tactile point rapidly and repeatedly along the path. STM parameters and their impact on tactile perception are yet to be studied systematically. In this work, we first study how varying the draw frequency and the size of a simple shape affects the participants perception of texture and their emotional responses. In the second part of our study, we used the most salient tactile patterns of the first study to extend the results within a multimodal context. We found that tactile patterns’ perception was consistent within both studies. We also found instances when the tactile patterns could alter the perception of the audio and visual stimuli. Finally, we discuss the benefits of our findings and conclude with implications for future work.

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Hannah Limerick

Papers

The experience of agency in human-computer interactions: a review.

Empirical Evidence for a Diminished Sense of Agency in Speech Interfaces

User engagement for mid-air haptic interactions with digital signage

Touchless Tactile Displays for Digital Signage: Mid-air Haptics meets Large Screens

Using Ultrasonic Mid-air Haptic Patterns in Multi-Modal User Experiences