The goal of this workshop was to advance the understanding of how cognition and action systems are integrated and operate synergistically. This knowledge of how humans efficiently interact and navigate in complex environments is vital for generating a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and will help shape the design of everyday objects and training and working environments. One poignant example is computer technology. Human-computer interfaces equipped with gestural and tangible technologies are becoming increasingly accessible and ubiquitous in educational, leisure, and work settings. A thorough understanding of the interactions between cognition and action is needed help designers engineer devices and environments that maximize the functionality and usability. Thus, the workshop will bring together a diverse group of scholars in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, kinesiology, and human-computer interactions to share and critically evaluate their cutting-edge theoretical, empirical, and translational developments.
Note: Some videos from this workshop may appear slightly altered to protect the privacy of individuals pictured in presentations.
Leveraging Knowledge of Integrated Sensorimotor-Cognition Systems to Enhance
Performance and Learning During Human-Computer Interactions
Timothy Welsh, University of Toronto, Canada
Efficient and user-friendly human-computer interactions (HCI) are largely determined by the design of the virtual workspaces (e.g., the size and location of the stimuli on the screen) and the input technologies that convert the user’s thoughts and actions into commands and functions. For this reason, HCI designers attempt to utilize knowledge generated by behavioural and neural scientists when developing new technologies and systems. Over the last decade, my lab has been collaborating with researchers in computer sciences and digital media on a series of projects that leverages research and theories of integrated sensorimotor-cognition systems for the engineering of embodied and tangible HCI. We have shown that embodied HCI systems that transfer the reaching and kicking movements of the user to the virtual character can be more efficient than systems that employ conventional keyboard and mouse devices. Importantly, this work has also revealed that playing “smart games” using embodied interfaces facilitates improvements in spatial skills, such as mental rotation and perspective taking, whereas playing these same games with keyboard and mouse interfaces do not. More broadly speaking, this work highlights the large scope of important opportunities for translating the knowledge gained through fundamental behavioural and neuroscience research to improve HCI systems and, potentially, educational practices.
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