New Citations | Computer-Human Interaction

Technology is more interactive in a multitude of contexts, from completing tasks at work, looking for help online, to leisurely activities like news and video streaming. Understanding how to improve interaction between humans and computers can hold benefits in multiple situations. The following are recent human-computer interaction (HCI) studies.

The Eyes Have It
Nasser et al. identified a possible tie between increasingly complicated technologies and higher levels of stress measured in the workforce.  Their study measured stress in computer-human interaction through tracking eye movement of participants completing increasingly difficult tasks. BIOPAC’s MP Research System and API measured the stress of 13 participants and compared the data with gaze movement. Researchers found eye placement trends which correlated with feelings of stress when participants interacted with screens. Their hope is eye movement can be an easy indicator of stress—an indicator devices can recognize and use to improve interaction.

Text Bots
What type of chat bots are the best to work with? Researchers from MIT and Poland’s SWPS hoped to gain insight on this question in comparing animated to text-only chat bots. BIOPAC’s MP Research system allowed for EMG, ECG, RSP, and EDA monitoring of 31 participants interacting with either chat bot. The physiological data was then combined and compared with self-report questionnaires. Text chat bots were more favorable to animated avatars; participants identified the unnatural voice and animation of avatars as conveying a “weird” person-like imitation.

Skin in the Game
In the past, quality of service was an important metric for customer satisfaction, especially in customer-employee interactions. With more computer-individual interactions, researchers Yamazaki et al. identified the need for new, more objective gauge of consumer satisfaction, quality of experience, based on physiological data. Their study piloted this paradigm in researching how video streaming service interruptions and content could affect a user’s quality of experience. Participants watched multiple news or sports video clips with varying interruptions, and their physiologically and subjective responses were recorded. Skin conductance and other biometrics were assessed using BIOPAC’s Electrodermal Activity Amplifier with EDA/GSR Transducer. Researchers created an index correlating quality of experience to skin conductance as well as observed variability in experience based on the content of videos.