Evaluating Affective Computing Environments Using Physiological Measures

Emerging technologies offer exciting new ways of using entertainment technology to create fantastic play experiences and foster interactions between players. Evaluating collaborative play technology is challenging because success isn’t defined in terms of productivity and performance, but in terms of enjoyment and interaction. Current subjective methods of evaluating entertainment technology aren’t sufficiently robust. Our research project aims to test the efficacy of physiological measures as evaluators of collaborative user experience with play technologies. We found evidence that there is a different physiological response in the body when playing against a computer versus playing against a friend. These physiological results are mirrored in the subjective reports provided by the participants. This research provides an initial step towards using physiological responses to objectively evaluate a user’s experience with collaborative play technology. INTRODUCTION Emerging technologies in ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence offer exciting new interface opportunities for co-located play technology, as evidenced in a recent growth in the number of conference workshops and research articles devoted to this topic [1, 2, 7]. Our research team is interested in employing these new technologies to foster interactions between users in co-located, collaborative play environments. We want technology not only to enable fun, compelling experiences, but also to enhance the interaction and communication between players. These goals are not the traditional goals of productivity enhancement, usually seen in HCI research. We are more concerned with the affective component of computing technologies [12], or generating an emotional response to a play environment. For example, we recently created two novel collaborative play environments [9, 10] with the goal of enhancing interaction between players and to create a compelling experience. Other researchers have used emerging technologies to create entertainment environments with the same goal in mind [1, 5, 7]. However, evaluating the success of these new interaction techniques and environments is an open research challenge. Traditionally, human-computer interaction research (HCI) has been rooted in the cognitive sciences of psychology and human factors, and in the applied sciences of engineering, and computer science [11]. Although the study of human cognition has made significant progress in the last decade, the notion of emotion is equally important to design [11], especially when the primary goals are to challenge and entertain the user. This approach presents a shift in focus from usability analysis to user experience analysis. Traditional objective measures used for productivity environments, such as time and accuracy, are not relevant to collaboration or play. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES The first issue prohibiting good evaluation of collaborative play technologies is the inability to define what makes a system successful. We are not interested in traditional performance measures, but are more interested in whether our environment fosters interaction and communication between the players, creates an engaging experience, and is fun. A successful interaction technique should provide seamless access to the game environment and be a source of fun in itself. Although traditional usability issues may still be relevant, they are subordinate to the actual playing experience as defined by challenge, engagement, and fun. Once a definition of success has been determined, we need to resolve how to measure the chosen variables. Unlike performance measures, such as speed or accuracy, the measures of success for collaborative play technologies are more elusive. We want to increase interaction, enhance engagement, and create a fun experience. The current research problem lies in what metrics to use to measure engagement, interaction, fun, and collaboration. We have previously used both subjective reports and video coding as methods of evaluating our new technologies although there is no control environment with which to make comparisons [9, 10, 13]. Subjective reporting through questionnaires and interviews is generalizable and convenient, but misses complex patterns. Using video to code gestures, body language, and verbalizations is a rich source of data, but is also a lengthy and rigorous process. Research in Human Factors has used physiological measures as an indicator of mental effort and stress [14, 15]. Psychologists have been using physiological measures as unique identifiers of human emotions such as anger, grief, and sadness [4]. Physiological data have not been employed to identify human experience states of