Promoting Learning by Inducing and Scaffolding Cognitive Disequilibrium and Confusion through System Feedback

Learners frequently experience uncertainty about how to proceed during learning. These experiences cause learners to enter a state of cognitive disequilibrium and its affiliated affective state of confusion. Cognitive disequilibrium and confusion have been found to frequently occur during complex learning and provide opportunities for deeper learning. In the current thesis, a learning environment that induces confusion was investigated. In the environment, learners engaged in a dialogue on scientific reasoning with an animated pedagogical agent. Confusion was induced through false feedback provided by the tutor agent (e.g., when learners responded correctly and were told their response was incorrect). Self-reports of confusion during the training session indicated that false feedback was an effective method for inducing confusion. False feedback was also found to increase learners’ ability to apply this knowledge to new and novel situations, under certain conditions. Implications for the design of learning environments are also discussed

Towards a mood sensitive integrated development environment to enhance the performance of programmers

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The aim of the research was to analyze the possibility of developing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that could improve a programmer‘s performance by considering their current mood. Various experiments were conducted to study this idea. However, the impact of moods on programmer performance was initially examined in the literature. Based on this, a Cognitive Programming Task Model (CPTM) was developed showing that various cognitive functions and programming activities are interrelated. A second model derived from the literature, the Cognitive Mood Model (CMM), suggested that moods are also interrelated with various cognitive functions. Combining these two models indirectly suggests a relation between moods and programming tasks, which was presented as the Mood Programming Model (MPM). As direct empirical support was lacking for this relation, two experiments were conducted to study the effect mood could have on performance in a debug task. Validated mood-inducing movie clips were used to induce specific moods along two-mood dimensions: valence and arousal. The first study was conducted online. The results showed that arousal is a significant factor when considering programmer performance whereas valence was found to have no significant effect. The second study was a continuation study to validate the findings from the first study within lab conditions. The results were not able to confirm the findings of the first experiment. The reasons for these findings were explained accordingly. As mood was found to have an effect on a programmer‘s coding and debugging performance, this factor might be considered when developing a support system. The next step in the research was therefore to consider mood measuring in a non-interruptive way. The next two experiments were based around the hypothesis that ―moods can be measured from the keyboard and mouse interaction of the computer user‖. In the first experiment an application was installed on participants‘ computers to record their key presses and mouse clicks in a log file. Their self reported moods in intervals of 20 minutes were also stored in the same file over an average period of eight days. Correlations between participants‘ self reported moods and their keyboard and mouse use revealed that it might be possible to measure moods of the some of the participants. The second experiment took place in the lab, where participants were asked to perform programming like tasks while listening to ii mood inducing background music. Their moods were measured with a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) meter whereas key presses and mouse clicks again were recorded in log files. The correlations between GSR measurements and keyboard and mouse interaction validated the findings of the experiment in the field that it might be possible to measure the mood of some users from their computer use. Analyzing participants‘ personality traits showed dutifulness and self discipline as indicators that a person‘s mood correlates with his/her interaction behaviour. Considering that mood has an effect on programmer performance and that it might be possible to measure mood in a non-intrusive manner, the last question to focus on was whether a computer-generated intervention could change a programmer‘s mood and consequently improve their performance. In the final experiment programmers had to dry run algorithms for 16 minutes with the expectation that a level of boredom would set in. After this the video clip instructed them to participate in some physical exercises. Participants continued tracing algorithms for 8 minutes after the intervention. Results showed that the mood change after the intervention coincided with a programmers improved ability to provide the correct output of the algorithms. Together these findings lay the foundation for developing an IDE that can measure the programmer mood in a non-intrusive way and make effective interventions to improve programmer performance

A prototype to study cognitive and aesthetic aspects of mixed reality technologies

Mixed reality systems integrate virtual reality with real-world perception and cognition to offer enhanced interaction possibilities with the environment. Our aim is to demonstrate that mixed reality technologies strongly affect our aesthetic sense and mental models. So, in designing such technologies, we need to incorporate perspectives from different disciplines. We present different approaches and implementations of cognitive enhancement and cognitive technologies, consider some practical applications of mixed reality systems and discuss how they impact the user perception, body image and aesthetic sense

Inside Out: Detecting Learners' Confusion to Improve Interactive Digital Learning Environments

Confusion is an emotion that is likely to occur while learning complex information. This emotion can be beneficial to learners in that it can foster engagement, leading to deeper understanding. However, if learners fail to resolve confusion, its effect can be detrimental to learning. Such detrimental learning experiences are particularly concerning within digital learning environments (DLEs), where a teacher is not physically present to monitor learner engagement and adapt the learning experience accordingly. However, with better information about a learner's emotion and behavior, it is possible to improve the design of interactive DLEs (IDLEs) not only in promoting productive confusion but also in preventing overwhelming confusion. This article reviews different methodological approaches for detecting confusion, such as self-report and behavioral and physiological measures, and discusses their implications within the theoretical framework of a zone of optimal confusion. The specificities of several methodologies and their potential application in IDLEs are discussed

THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN VISUALIZATION

The popular notion that emotion and reason are incompatible is no longer defensi- ble. Recent research in psychology and cognitive science has established emotion as a key element in numerous aspects of perception and cognition, including attention, memory, decision-making, risk perception, and creativity. This dissertation centers around the observation that emotion influences many aspects of perception and cog- nition that are crucial for effective visualization. First, I demonstrate that emotion influences accuracy in fundamental visualiza- tion tasks by combining a classic graphical perception experiment (from Cleveland and McGill) with emotion induction procedures from psychology (chapter 3). Next, I expand on the experiments in the first chapter to explore additional techniques for studying emotion and visualization, resulting in an experiment that shows that performance differences between primed individuals persist even as task difficulty in- creases (chapter 4). In a separate experiment, I show how certain emotional states (i.e. frustration and engagement) can be inferred from visualization interaction logs using machine learning (chapter 5). I then discuss a model for individual cognitive dif- ferences in visualization, which situates emotion into existing individual differences research in visualization (chapter 6). Finally, I propose an preliminary model for emotion in visualization (chapter 7)

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Department of Creative Design EngineeringThe purpose of the research is to develop an art platform for the mutual development of Korean amateur artists. The process of this project consists of literature and case studies to clarify the situation of the target, three times of MVP production and testing and a co-design workshop that was conducted with artists to derive the final concept and content of the service. The user experience of the service contents was evaluated through subsequent prototype development, and a final conclusion has been reached. Through the literature and case studies an issue was found that the problems of the ???amateur artists groups??? in Korea were largely divided into two: economic issues and art-related issues. Unlike economic issues, there were no institutions or platforms that focused on ???art-related issues???, and those who work ???part-time??? to make a living while continuing their artistic activities are not fully able to focus on their art due to the poor environment. To overcome this problem, the production and testing of MVP has taken place in three different sequences. The first MVP was designed to evaluate the service content of ???collaboration of different amateur artists???, but it ran into an issue of ???service not sustainable???. To solve this issue, a content called ???inspiration story??? was introduced in the second MVP test. Finally, a third MVP test - which was designed to identify the overall service content experience -, reached a conclusion of ???the service matches the topic of ???mutual development, but it did not do much on helping the amateur artists overcome their difficulties???. Based on this, the ???inspiration story??? content was expanded to the main content. In addition, by combining the factor of ???communication between artists???, the service contents were modified to allow free communication between artists about their work and inspiration. Later, through the Co-Design Workshop, ???communication point system??? and a new service business model of ???combination of ads and posting fees??? had been suggested. Since then, the service was named IBA (Interaction between Artists), based on its main contents and concept - ???Artistic communication between amateur artists??? -. Through evaluation, it has been predicted that the ???story of inspiration??? content of IBA would let people understand the artist and their work more deeply, while having other positive effects such as better communication between the artists, improved quality of art-based dialogue, inducing mutual artistic empathy, and providing artistic inspiration. Give that the main target user base of IBA does not usually have many opportunities to get feedback from others about their work, IBA is expected to provide a ???variety of high-quality communication opportunities??? to the amateur artists, fulfilling their ???desire to communicate??? successfully. This helps artists to form bonds with other artists and exchanging artistic inspiration. These kinds of merits are expected to play a positive role in developing the artistic creativity, sensibility and expressions of many amateur artists of Korea. Also, as IBA is a platform that covers all kinds of genres in art, it is also expected to assure diversity and expand the sectors of art while making it easier for artists to come up with new and innovative form of art. Based on these points, it is believed that IBA will have a positive impact on the mutual cooperation and development of amateur artists. But one important issue is that the platform is limited to artists only. Though the user base of IBA is limited to artists only, the artists constantly showed their needs that the public should be included as a stakeholder for the service. In this regard, it is important to seriously consider how IBA will be introduced to the general public who are not artist, giving an answer about what kind of role they will play inside the platform. Additional research should be focused on how the platform will balance itself between ???professional communication between artists??? and ???the reaction from the general public??? and support the artistic independence of each individual artists.ope

"Viesti Venuksesta / Message from Venus" – Creating new kind of game concept with emphasis on experience design

The games offer, or actually ultimately, they are experiences. These experiences can be directly, as well as indirectly, crafted by the game designer. How can the various design principles, especially the experience design principles, be used to create exceptional game experiences? I look into the ways of telling meaningful stories and to the methods for creating emotional experiences. But before that, the attributes for, and the affects to an experience needed to be thought out. As part of this Thesis, I present my unique game concept Message from Venus and explain the basis for its design and describe the design journey. I discuss my use of the previously studied tools, methods and principles. I ended up developing my own experience design principles, that combines and enhances the existing ones. I map the experience goals for my game, and think of ways to reach these goals. Also, after comparing three existing analysing frameworks, I created my own analysing framework to break my game down into pieces, so that I could perform a thorough analysis of it