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What the body knows: Exploring the benefits of embodied metaphors in hybrid physical digital environments

Resource type
Date created
2008-10-21
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
A recent trend in ubiquitous computing is the development of new forms of interfaces, which rely on embodied interaction. We focus on the definition of embodiment that refers to the ways in which abstract concepts rely on metaphorical extensions of embodied schemata shaped by processes below the level of conscious awareness as explored by Lakoff and Johnson [Lakoff, G., Johnson, M., 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA]. Our inquiry focuses on understanding the role embodied metaphors may play in supporting people to understand the possibilities for physical interaction in augmented spaces. We explore this issue through the development and evaluation of an interactive audio environment. We instantiate metaphor theory by using embodied schemata as the basis for the interactional metaphor that relates full-body input actions to audio output responses. We demonstrate and explore the benefits of this approach through a comparative experiment in which adults and children learn to use our audio environment. The results from our experiment indicated that embodied metaphors improve usability however, other factors including discoverability, perceivability of feedback and duplicity of structural isomorphism may mediate these metaphor-based benefits. We have generalized our main findings as a set of suggestions for the design of embodied style interfaces that rely on physical interaction.
Document
Identifier
DOI: 10.1016/j.intcom.2008.10.005
Publication details
Publication title
Interacting with Computers
Document title
What the body knows: Exploring the benefits of embodied metaphors in hybrid physical digital environments
Date
2009
Volume
21
Issue
1
First page
66
Last page
75
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the publisher with many rights continuing to also be held by the author(s).
Scholarly level
Peer reviewed?
Yes
Member of collection

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