1,634 research outputs found
Affective games:a multimodal classification system
Affective gaming is a relatively new field of research that exploits human emotions to influence gameplay for an enhanced player experience. Changes in playerâs psychology reflect on their behaviour and physiology, hence recognition of such variation is a core element in affective games. Complementary sources of affect offer more reliable recognition, especially in contexts where one modality is partial or unavailable. As a multimodal recognition system, affect-aware games are subject to the practical difficulties met by traditional trained classifiers. In addition, inherited game-related challenges in terms of data collection and performance arise while attempting to sustain an acceptable level of immersion. Most existing scenarios employ sensors that offer limited freedom of movement resulting in less realistic experiences. Recent advances now offer technology that allows players to communicate more freely and naturally with the game, and furthermore, control it without the use of input devices. However, the affective game industry is still in its infancy and definitely needs to catch up with the current life-like level of adaptation provided by graphics and animation
A Design Exploration of Affective Gaming
Physiological sensing has been a prominent fixture in games user research (GUR) since the late 1990s, when researchers began to explore its potential to enhance and understand experience within digital game play. Since these early days, it has been widely argued that âaffective gamingââin which gameplay is influenced by a playerâs emotional stateâcan enhance player experience by integrating physiological sensors into play. In this thesis, I conduct a design exploration of the field of affective gaming by first, systematically exploring the field and creating a framework (the affective game loop) to classify existing literature; and second by presenting two design probes, to probe and explore the design space of affective games contextualized within the affective game loop: In the Same Boat and Commons Sense. The systematic review explored this unique design space of affective gaming, opening up future avenues for exploration. The affective game loop was created as a way to classify the physiological signals and sensors most commonly used in prior literature within the context of how they are mapped into the gameplay itself. Findings suggest that the physiological input mappings can be more action-based (e.g., affecting mechanics in the game such as the movement of the character) or more context-based (e.g., affecting things like environmental or difficulty variables in the game). Findings also suggested that while the field has been around for decades, there is still yet to be any commercial successes, so does physiological interaction really heighten player experience? This question instigated the design of the two probes, exploring ways to implement these mappings and effectively heighten player experience. In the Same Boat (Design Probe One) is an embodied mirroring game designed to promote an intimate interaction, using playersâ breathing rate and facial expressions to control movement of a canoe down a river. Findings suggest that playing In the Same Boat fostered the development of affiliation between the players, and that while embodied controls were less intuitive, people enjoyed them more, indicating the potential of embodied controls to foster social closeness in synchronized play over a distance. Commons Sense (Design Probe Two) is a communication modality intended to heighten audience engagement and effectively capture and communicate the audience experience, using a webcam-based heart rate detection software that takes an average of each spectatorâs heart rate as input to affect in-game variables such as lighting and sound design, and game difficulty. Findings suggest that Commons Sense successfully facilitated the communication of audience response in an online entertainment contextâwhere these social cues and signals are inherently diminished. In addition, Commons Sense is a communication modality that can both enhance a play experience while offering a novel way to communicate. Overall, findings from this design exploration shows that affective games offer a novel way to deliver a rich gameplay experience for the player
Hybridizing 3-dimensional multiple object tracking with neurofeedback to enhance preparation, performance, and learning
Le vaste domaine de lâamĂ©lioration cognitive traverse les applications comportementales, biochimiques et physiques. Aussi nombreuses sont les techniques que les limites de ces premiĂšres : des Ă©tudes de pauvre mĂ©thodologie, des pratiques Ă©thiquement ambiguĂ«s, de faibles effets positifs, des effets secondaires significatifs, des couts financiers importants, un investissement de temps significatif, une accessibilitĂ© inĂ©gale, et encore un manque de transfert. Lâobjectif de cette thĂšse est de proposer une mĂ©thode novatrice dâintĂ©gration de lâune de ces techniques, le neurofeedback, directement dans un paradigme dâapprentissage afin dâamĂ©liorer la performance cognitive et lâapprentissage.
Cette thĂšse propose les modalitĂ©s, les fondements empiriques et des donnĂ©es Ă lâappui de ce paradigme efficace dâapprentissage âbouclĂ©â. En manipulant la difficultĂ© dans une tĂąche en fonction de lâactivitĂ© cĂ©rĂ©brale en temps rĂ©el, il est dĂ©montrĂ© que dans un paradigme dâapprentissage traditionnel (3-dimentional multiple object tracking), la vitesse et le degrĂ© dâapprentissage peuvent ĂȘtre amĂ©liorĂ©s de maniĂšre significative lorsque comparĂ©s au paradigme traditionnel ou encore Ă un groupe de contrĂŽle actif. La performance amĂ©liorĂ©e demeure observĂ©e mĂȘme avec un retrait du signal de rĂ©troaction, ce qui suggĂšre que les effets de lâentrainement amĂ©liorĂ© sont consolidĂ©s et ne dĂ©pendent pas dâune rĂ©troaction continue.
Ensuite, cette thĂšse rĂ©vĂšle comment de tels effets se produisent, en examinant les corrĂ©lĂ©s neuronaux des Ă©tats de prĂ©paration et de performance Ă travers les conditions dâĂ©tat de base et pendant la tĂąche, de plus quâen fonction du rĂ©sultat (rĂ©ussite/Ă©chec) et de la difficultĂ© (basse/moyenne/haute vitesse). La prĂ©paration, la performance et la charge cognitive sont mesurĂ©es via des liens robustement Ă©tablis dans un contexte dâactivitĂ© cĂ©rĂ©brale fonctionnelle mesurĂ©e par lâĂ©lectroencĂ©phalographie quantitative. Il est dĂ©montrĂ© que lâajout dâune assistance- Ă -la-tĂąche apportĂ©e par la frĂ©quence alpha dominante est non seulement appropriĂ©e aux conditions de ce paradigme, mais influence la charge cognitive afin de favoriser un maintien du sujet dans sa zone de dĂ©veloppement proximale, ce qui facilite lâapprentissage et amĂ©liore la performance.
Ce type de paradigme dâapprentissage peut contribuer Ă surmonter, au minimum, un des limites fondamentales du neurofeedback et des autres techniques dâamĂ©lioration cognitive : le manque de transfert, en utilisant une mĂ©thode pouvant ĂȘtre intĂ©grĂ©e directement dans le contexte dans lequel lâamĂ©lioration de la performance est souhaitĂ©e.The domain of cognitive enhancement is vast, spanning behavioral, biochemical and physical applications. The techniques are as numerous as are the limitations: poorly conducted studies, ethically ambiguous practices, limited positive effects, significant side-effects, high financial costs, significant time investment, unequal accessibility, and lack of transfer. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a novel way of integrating one of these techniques, neurofeedback, directly into a learning context in order to enhance cognitive performance and learning.
This thesis provides the framework, empirical foundations, and supporting evidence for a highly efficient âclosed-loopâ learning paradigm. By manipulating task difficulty based on a measure of cognitive load within a classic learning scenario (3-dimentional multiple object tracking) using real-time brain activity, results demonstrate that over 10 sessions, speed and degree of learning can be substantially improved compared with a classic learning system or an active sham-control group. Superior performance persists even once the feedback signal is removed, which suggests that the effects of enhanced training are consolidated and do not rely on continued feedback.
Next, this thesis examines how these effects occur, exploring the neural correlates of the states of preparedness and performance across baseline and task conditions, further examining correlates related to trial results (correct/incorrect) and task difficulty (slow/medium/fast speeds). Cognitive preparedness, performance and load are measured using well-established relationships between real-time quantified brain activity as measured by quantitative electroencephalography. It is shown that the addition of neurofeedback-based task assistance based on peak alpha frequency is appropriate to task conditions and manages to influence cognitive load, keeping the subject in the zone of proximal development more often, facilitating learning and improving performance.
This type of learning paradigm could contribute to overcoming at least one of the fundamental limitations of neurofeedback and other cognitive enhancement techniques : a lack of observable transfer effects, by utilizing a method that can be directly integrated into the context in which improved performance is sought
Psychophysiology in games
Psychophysiology is the study of the relationship between psychology
and its physiological manifestations. That relationship is of particular importance
for both game design and ultimately gameplaying. Playersâ psychophysiology offers
a gateway towards a better understanding of playing behavior and experience.
That knowledge can, in turn, be beneficial for the player as it allows designers to
make better games for them; either explicitly by altering the game during play or
implicitly during the game design process. This chapter argues for the importance
of physiology for the investigation of player affect in games, reviews the current
state of the art in sensor technology and outlines the key phases for the application
of psychophysiology in games.The work is supported, in part, by the EU-funded FP7 ICT iLearnRWproject
(project no: 318803).peer-reviewe
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