Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Blog #26: Embodiment in Brain-Computer Interaction

Paper Title: Embodiment in Brain-Computer Interaction

Authors: Kenton O'Hara, Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper

Author Bios:
Kenton O'Hara: Microsoft Researcher in Cambridge in the Department of Socio Digital Systems.

Abigail Sellen: is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research Cambridge in the United Kingdom and a co-manager of Socio-Digital Systems, an interdisciplinary group with a focus on the human perspective in computing.

Richard Harper: is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge and co-manages the Socio-Digital Systems group.

Presentation Venue: CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems that took place at New York (ACM)

Summary:
Hypothesis: The key focus of this kind of interaction technique is to offer new interaction modalities for people with disabilities such as those with motor control impairments. If BCI technology can be effectively used and harnessed, then it can be used outside of the realm of just video gaming and possibly with the combination of other technologies.
How the hypothesis was tested: 16 participants took part in the study, made up of four distinct groups of people who knew each other. For each group there was a "host" participant responsible for assembling the group of people with whom they wanted to play the game just as they would if playing any other game at home. A social group had to consist of at least two people. The groups consisted of different family members and friend relationships as determined by the group host. The groups were as follows:
Group 1: One female (early 30s) and one male, in a relationship and cohabiting
Group 2: Father playing with his three children
Group 3: Married couple, daughter, her two stepsisters, the boyfriend of one of the stepsisters. One of the stepsisters had learning difficulties.
Group 4: Mother, father, son and daughter
Results: Watching and interpreting the game was not always straightforward and unambiguous. The authors noticed that other players and spectators were not always able to understand the intentions and actions of others in relation to the game, particularly when there was no bodily manifestation of their intention. 

Discussion:
Effectiveness: In this paper, the authors examined the Brain-Computer interaction within the context of social game play in the home. By this, they offered an alternative and complementary perspective on this kind of interaction. I found this paper pretty cool. I would have fun if I were able to play a game like this. II noticed that some players had some difficulty in controlling the ball sometimes. I think that the authors definitely showed how the power of BCI technology is tangible and applicable to video gaming.

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