Design Implications
4.3.6 Embodied Interaction
Another way of describing our interactions with technology and the world is to conceive of it as embodied. By this we mean the practical engagement with the social and physical environ- ment (Dourish, 2001). This involves creating, manipulating, and making meaning through our engaged interaction with physical things, including mundane objects such as cups and spoons, and technological devices, such as smartphones and robots. Artifacts and technolo- gies that indicate how they are coupled to the world make it clear how they should be used.
For example, a physical artifact, like a book when left opened on someone’s desk, can remind them to complete an unfinished task the next day (Marshall and Hornecker, 2013).
Eva Hornecker et al. (2017) further explain embodied interaction in terms of how our bodies and active experiences shape how we perceive, feel, and think. They describe how our ability to think abstractly is thought to be a result of our sensorimotor experiences with the world. This enables us to learn how to think and talk using abstract concepts, such as inside-outside, up-down, on top of, and behind. Our numerous experiences of moving through and manipulating the world since we were born (for example, climbing, walking, crawling, stepping into, holding, or placing) is what enables us to develop a sense of the world at both a concrete and abstract level.
Within HCI, the concept of embodied interaction has been used to describe how the body mediates our various interactions with technology (Klemmer et al., 2006) and also our emo- tional interactions (Höök, 2018). By theorizing about embodied interactions in these ways has helped researchers uncover problems that can arise in the use of existing technologies while also informing the design of new technologies in the context in which they will be used.
David Kirsh (2013) suggests that a theory of embodiment can provide HCI practition- ers and theorists with new ideas about interaction and new principles for better designs. He explains how interacting with tools changes the way people think and perceive of their envi- ronments. He also argues that a lot of times we think with our bodies and not just with our brains. He studied choreographers and dancers and observed that they often partially model
a dance (known as marking) through using abbreviated moves and small gestures rather than doing a full workout or mentally simulating the dance in their heads. This kind of marking was found to be a better method of practice than the other two methods. The reason for doing it this way is not that it is saving energy or preventing dancers from getting exhausted emotionally, but that it enables them to review and explore particular aspects of a phrase or movement without the mental complexity involved in a full work out. The implication of how people use embodiment in their lives is that learning new procedures and skills might be better taught by a process like marking, where learners create little models of things or use their own bodies to act out. For example, rather than developing fully fledged virtual real- ity simulations for learning golf, tennis, skiing, and so on, it might be better to teach sets of abbreviated actions, using augmented reality, as a form of embodied marking.
In-Depth Activity
The aim of this in-depth activity is for you to try to elicit mental models from people. In par- ticular, the goal is for you to understand the nature of people’s knowledge about an interactive product in terms of how to use it and how it works.
1. First, elicit your own mental model. Write down how you think contactless cards (see Figure 4.10) work—where customers place their debit or credit card over a card reader. If you are not familiar with contactless cards, do the same for a smartphone app like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Then answer the following questions:
Figure 4.10 A contactless debit card indicated by symbol
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Further Reading
BERGMAN, O. and WHITTAKER, S. (2016). The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff.
MIT Press. This very readable book provides a fascinating account of how we manage all of our digital stuff that increases by the bucket load each day. It explains why we persist with seemingly old-fashioned methods when there are alternative, seemingly better approaches that have been designed by software companies.
• What information is sent between the card/smartphone and the card reader when it is placed in front of it?
• What is the maximum amount you can pay for something using a contactless card, or Apple/
Google Pay?
• Why is there an upper limit?
• How many times can you use a contactless card or Apple/Google Pay in a day?
• What happens if you have two contactless cards in the same wallet/purse?
• What happens when your contactless card is stolen and you report it to the bank?
Next, ask two other people the same set of questions.
2. Now analyze your answers. Do you get the same or different explanations? What do the findings indicate? How accurate are people’s mental models about the way contactless cards and smartphone Apple/Google Pay work?
Summary
This chapter explained the importance of understanding the cognitive aspects of interaction. It described relevant findings and theories about how people carry out their everyday activities and how to learn from these to help in designing interactive products. It provided illustrations of what happens when you design systems with the user in mind and what happens when you don’t. It also presented a number of conceptual frameworks that allow ideas about cognition to be generalized across different situations.
Key points
• Cognition comprises many processes, including thinking, attention, memory, perception, learning, decision-making, planning, reading, speaking, and listening.
• The way in which an interface is designed can greatly affect how well people can perceive, attend, learn, and remember how to carry out their tasks.
• The main benefits of conceptual frameworks based on theories of cognition are that they can explain user interaction, inform design, and predict user performance.
F U r T h E r r E A D I N G
ERICKSON, T. D. and MCDONALD, D. W. (2008) HCI Remixed: Reflections on Works That Have Influenced the HCI Community. MIT Press. This collection of essays from more than 50 leading HCI researchers describes the accessible prose papers, books, and software that influenced their approach to HCI and shaped its history. They include some of the classic papers on cognitive theories, including the psychology of HCI and the power of external representations.
EYSENCK, M. and BRYSBAERT, M. (2018) Fundamentals of Cognition (3rd ed.). Rout- ledge. This introductory textbook about cognition provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of cognition. In particular, it describes the processes that allow us to make sense of the world around us and to enable us to make decisions about how to manage our everyday lives. It also covers how technology can provide new insights into how the mind works, for example, revealing how CAPTCHAs tell us more about perception.
GIGERENZER, G. (2008) Gut Feelings. Penguin. This provocative paperback is written by a psychologist and behavioral expert in decision-making. When confronted with choice in a variety of contexts, he explains how often “less is more.” He explains why this is so in terms of how people rely on fast and frugal heuristics when making decisions, which are often unconscious rather than rational. These revelations have huge implications for interaction design that are only just beginning to be explored.
JACKO, J. (ed.) (2012) The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolv- ing Technologies and Emerging Applications (3rd ed). CRC Press. Part 1 is about human aspects of HCI and includes in-depth chapters on information processing, mental models, decision-making, and perceptual motor interaction.
KAHNEMAN, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. Penguin. This bestseller presents an over- view of how the mind works, drawing on aspects of cognitive and social psychology. The focus is on how we make judgments and choices. It proposes that we use two ways of think- ing: one that is quick and based on intuition and one that is slow and more deliberate and challenging. The book explores the many facets of life and how and when we use each.