Paper Reading #26: Embodiment in Brain-Computer Interaction

• Title: Embodiment in Brain-Computer Interaction
• Reference Information:
• Kenton O'Hara, Abigail Sellen, and Richard Harper. 2011. Embodiment in brain-computer interaction.  In <em>Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems</em> (CHI '11). ACM, New York, NY, USA,  353-362. DOI=10.1145/1978942.1978994 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1978942.1978994
• UIST 2010 New York, New York.
• Author Bios:
• Kenton O'Hara has been cited in nearly 500 articles published through the ACM in the last 18 years.  He is affiliated with Hewlett-Packard as well as Microsoft Research.
• Abigail Sellen is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Reserach Cambridge.  She joined Microsoft Research after working for Hewlett Packard Labs.
• Richard Harper is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge.  
• Summary
• Hypothesis:
• Researchers hypothesize that Brain-Computer Interaction can have a social impact when used in different environments.  In particular, when a BCI is used in a gaming environment, the interactions between the people involved change fundamentally.  The researchers hope to examine exactly how this interaction changes.
• Methods
• The researchers sent the MindFlex game home with three different groups of people and asked them to record their gaming experience.  Each of the groups was supposed to choose when, where and with whom to actually play the game.  This created a very realistic, and fluid environment in which people freely came and went.  
• Results
•  The analysis showed a few novel differences, such as the unnecessary mental imagery created in an attempt to properly control the game.  Many users would frequently think 'up, up, up' to raise the ball when in fact all they had to do was concentrate a little more.
• Contents
• The paper shows results that can be used to extend the use of BCI into other environments. These environments will not be typical of previous social interaction space since there are new problems such as users not being able to acknowledge feedback from other people around them.
• Discussion
• The researchers hypothesis was very open-ended, simply that BCI interaction is something that needs to be studied in order to be expanded.  The researchers were able to effectively study these interactions, and presented several clear findings.  I had never thought about the fact that simply moving your hand or responding to a question could have such a profound effect on concentration.  I hope that this research is continued so that more fluid invisible computing can be accomplished in the future.



Picture Source: "Embodiment in Brain-Computer Interaction"