Facilitating Keyboard Use While Wearing a Head-Mounted Display

Virtual reality (VR) headsets are becoming more common and will require evolving input mechanisms to support a growing range of applications. Because VR devices require users to wear head-mounted displays, there are accomodations that must be made in order to support specific input devices. One such device, a keyboard, serves as a useful tool for text entry. Many users will require assistance towards using a keyboard when wearing a head-mounted display. Developers have explored new mechanisms to overcome the challenges of text-entry for virtual reality. Several games have toyed with the idea of using motion controllers to provide a text entry mechanism, however few investigations have made on how to assist users in using a physical keyboard while wearing a head-mounted display. As an alternative to controller based text input, I propose that a software tool could facilitate the use of a physical keyboard in virtual reality. Using computer vision, a user€™s hands could be projected into the virtual world. With the ability to see the location of their hands relative to the keyboard, users will be able to type despite the obstruction caused by the head-mounted display (HMD). The viability of this approach was tested and the tool released as a plugin for the Unity development platform. The potential uses for the plugin go beyond text entry, and the project can be expanded to include many physical input devices

Path dependence, its critics and the quest for ‘historical economics’

The concept of path dependence refers to a property of contingent, non- reversible dynamical processes, including a wide array of biological and social processes that can properly be described as 'evolutionary.' To dispell existing confusions in the literature, and clarify the meaning and significance of path dependence for economists, the paper formulates definitions that relate the phenomenon to the property of non-ergodicity in stochastic processes; it examines the nature of the relationship between between path dependence and 'market failure,' and discusses the meaning of 'lock-in.' Unlike tests for the presence of non-ergodicity, assessments of the economic significance of path dependence are shown to involve difficult issues of counterfactual specification, and the welfare evaluation of alternative dynamic paths rather than terminal states. The policy implications of the existence of path dependence are shown to be more subtle and, as a rule, quite different from those which have been presumed by critics of the concept. A concluding section applies the notion of 'lock-in' reflexively to the evolution of economic analysis, suggesting that resistence to historical economics is a manifestation of 'sunk cost hysteresis' in the sphere of human cognitive development.path dependence, non-ergodicity, irreversibility, lock-in, counterfactual analysis

Factors Which Influence Key Entry Speed On Hard and Soft Keyboards: Experience, Eye Behaviors and Finger Movements

Soft keyboards have become ubiquitous, especially with the introduction of the iPad. This study aims to determine for experienced touch typists whether there are characteristics of soft QWERTY keyboards that can make them easier to use and why those characteristics provide an advantage. Two characteristics would appear to be of central importance. First, hard keyboards provide home row positioning information that is not as easily provided by soft keyboards. Second, hard keyboards also provide auditory and tactile feedback when a key is depressed, something not generally provided with soft keyboards. In order to test the hypothesis that the absence of home row positioning and key strike feedback information can reduce expert touch typists’ speeds on soft keyboards, expert touch typists were run in two experiments. In Experiment 1, soft and hard keyboards in landscape and portrait mode were evaluated. The hard keyboards had the standard home row positioning and key strike feedback whereas the soft keyboards had neither. If these are important elements in typing speed, then experienced hard keyboard typists should type less quickly when using soft keyboards than when using hard keyboards. Moreover, if reducing the footprint of the keyboard, from landscape to portrait, requires more eye movements, then typists using both hard and soft keyboards should be slower when using the portrait size keyboard than when using the landscape size keyboard. Perhaps not surprisingly, experienced hard keyboard touch typists do less well when entering information on soft keyboards without home row positioning information or auditory feedback. Moreover, both groups appear to type more slowly in keyboards laid out in a portrait format than they do in keyboards laid out in a landscape format. In summary, the results from Experiment 1 suggest that both home row positioning information and auditory key strike feedback should speed performance. In Experiment 2, an attempt was made to determine just how much of a gain can be made in the typing speed of more experienced soft keyboard users if home row positioning information (tactile feedback), auditory feedback, or both are added. Participants were run in four conditions: auditory key strike feedback (with and without) was crossed with tactile home row positioning information (with and without). Participants included expert level hard keypad QWERTY touch typists who have had at least five hours’ typing experience with an iPad. Participants were given four passages to type, all of equal length and all balanced for letter frequency. Participants typed one passage in each of the four conditions. The passage sequence was counterbalanced across participants. Typing speeds for each of the passages was measured and averaged across participants within conditions. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine whether there was a main effect of position or feedback. In order to determine why it is that home row positioning and key strike feedback alters performance, eye behaviors, movement times and task completion times are calculated. If home row position information is important, soft keyboards without this information may have a larger number of glances that a typist directs at the keyboard. These glances will help the typist determine either whether a finger is positioned over the correct home key (the launch key) or whether the location of the key to be typed next (the target key) is in the expected position. If key strike feedback is important, soft keyboards without this information should have longer movement times where the typists do not need to glance at the keyboard. This follows since the typist will process less quickly the fact that a finger has landed on a key. Key press and key release times will be included each time a character, number or spacebar is depressed or releases. The finger movement time between any pair of keys i and j will be derived from the key press and key release times. This time will be measured from the moment the finger leaves the launch key i until the moment that the finger arrives at the target key j. Task completion times were defined as the difference between the first key press in a passage and the last key release. Finger movement times, inter-keystroke intervals and task completion times were recorded using a program developed in JAVA 2SE. Eye movements are recorded with aid of an ASL Mobile EYE tracker. Analyses of the finger movement times and task completions times in Experiment 2 indicated that participants were fastest when both position information and auditory feedback were included. When just finger movement times are considered, there was a significant effect of auditory feedback but not of positioning information. This was what was expected given that the speed of finger movement times is arguably largely a function of how quickly a typist perceives that a movement has been completed, something that auditory feedback, but not positioning information provides. When just the task completion times were analyzed, position information had a significant effect. The effect of auditory feedback was only marginally significant. It was expected that both factors would be significant. Perhaps the power was too small. Finally, when the eye movements were analyzed, the total scanning time was shortest when both position information and auditory feedback were available. The effects of both were statistically significant. In summary, on the basis of the results from Experiment 1 it appeared likely that auditory feedback and positioning information accounted in part for the faster typing times of touch typists on hard keyboards as opposed to soft keyboards. In Experiment 2, this hypothesis was evaluated. Finger movement and task completion times were fastest when both auditory feedback and positioning information were present. The effect of auditory feedback appeared to impact only the finger movement times. The effect of both auditory feedback and positioning information appeared to impact the task completion times. However, the effect of auditory feedback on task completion times was only marginal. Finally, it was clear that much of the reduction in task completion times occurred because the time that the touch typists spent scanning the keyboard was smaller when both auditory feedback and positioning information was available. It is recommended in the future that soft keyboards have both sets of feedback available, auditory (through simulated key clicks) and tactile (through home row positioning information). The gains in typing speed with these additions were models (about 10%), considered over the entire population of users the impact could be considerable

The matching law and melioration learning: From individual decision-making to social interactions

Das Thema dieser Dissertation ist die Anwendung des „Matching Law” als Verhaltensannahme bei der Erklärung sozialer Phänomene. Das „Matching Law” ist ein Modell der behavioristischen Lerntheorie und sagt aus, dass die relative Häufigkeit der Wahl einer Handlung mit der relativen Häufigkeit der Belohnung dieser Handlung übereinstimmt. In der Dissertation werden verschiedene Probleme in Bezug auf die soziologische Anwendung des „Matching Law” erörtert. Aufbauend auf diesen Erkenntnissen wird das Entsprechungsgesetz in die ökonomische Entscheidungstheorie integriert und mit bestehenden Verhaltensprognosen theoretisch verglichen. Anschließend wird das Entsprechungsgesetz auf mehrere soziale Situationen angewandt. Dabei kommt ein Lernmodell zum Einsatz, welches als „Melioration Learning” bezeichnet wird und unter bestimmten Bedingungen zum Entsprechungsgesetz führt. Mit Hilfe dieses Lernmodells und agentenbasierter Simulationen werden Hypothesen zu sozialem Verhalten hergeleitet. Zunächst werden einfache Situationen mit nur zwei interagierenden Akteuren betrachtet. Dabei lassen sich durch das Entsprechungsgesetz einige Lösungskonzepte der Spieltheorie replizieren, obwohl weniger Annahmen bezüglich der kognitiven Fähigkeiten der Akteure und der verfügbaren Informationen gesetzt werden. Außerdem werden Interaktionen zwischen beliebig vielen Akteuren untersucht. Erstens lässt sich die Entstehung sozialer Konventionen über das Entsprechungsgesetz erklären. Zweitens wird dargestellt, dass die Akteure lernen, in einem Freiwilligendilemma oder einem Mehrpersonen-Gefangenendilemma zu kooperieren

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Long-term Motor Learning and Retention

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Enxeñaría Civil . 5011V01[Abstract] Optimizing the teaching-learning process is essential throughout life. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) seem to be an option for optimizing the motor learning curve. This thesis aims to study the effects of tDCS on motor learning, including the retention of a motor. The first randomized controlled study explored the effects of applying tDCS before, during, or after motor practice on retention of the practiced skill in 100 participants. After a single session, similar performance changes were observed in all groups, with no significant differences in the choice reaction time task. In the second randomized controlled study, we examined the effects of tDCS on typing performance in 63 participants. Participants performed a structured program of 23 intervention sessions across 3.5-month: 20, 15-min typing practice and 3 evaluations (pre, middle, post). tDCS group performed better motor performance in the rapid learning phase compared to the sham and control groups. However, these differences dissipated from session 11th. In conclusion, tDCS appears to be a safe stimulation method when administered over multiple sessions in healthy young adults but failed to enhance motor skill acquisition and retention compared with a sham control group.Resumen] Optimizar el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje es fundamental durante la vida. La estimulación transcraneal por corriente directa (tDCS) podría optimizar la curva de aprendizaje motor. El objetivo de la tesis fue estudiar los efectos de la tDCS sobre el aprendizaje, incluyendo la fase de retención. El primer estudio controlado aleatorio exploró los efectos de la aplicación de la tDCS antes, durante, o después, de la práctica sobre la retención en 100 participantes. Después de una sesión, se observaron cambios de rendimiento similares en todos los grupos en una tarea de tiempos de reacción aleatorios. En el segundo estudio controlado aleatorio, examinamos los efectos de la tDCS sobre el rendimiento mecanográfico. Los 63 participantes realizaron un programa estructurado durante 3.5-meses que incluía 20 prácticas y 3 evaluaciones (pre-, media- y post-intervención). El grupo tDCS obtuvo un mejor rendimiento en la fase rápida del aprendizaje en comparación con el grupo placebo y el grupo control, aunque estas diferencias se disiparon desde la sesión 11 en adelante. En conclusión, la tDCS parece ser segura aplicada en sesiones múltiples en adultos jóvenes y sanos, pero no eficaz para mejorar el aprendizaje de habilidades motoras en comparación con los grupos control y placebo.[Resumo] Optimizar o proceso de ensino-aprendizaxe é fundamental durante a vida. A estimulación transcraneal de corrente continua (tDCS) podería optimizar a curva de aprendizaxe motora. O obxectivo da tese foi estudar os efectos do tDCS na aprendizaxe, incluída a fase de retención. O primeiro estudo controlado aleatorizado explorou os efectos da aplicación de tDCS antes, durante ou despois da práctica sobre a retención en 100 participantes. Despois dunha sesión, observáronse cambios de rendemento similares en todos os grupos nunha tarefa aleatoria de tempos de reacción. No segundo estudo controlado aleatorizado, examinamos os efectos do tDCS no rendemento da dixitación. Os 63 participantes completaron un programa estruturado de 3.5-meses que incluía 20 prácticas e 3 avaliacións (pre-, media- e post-intervención). O grupo tDCS funcionou mellor na fase rápida de aprendizaxe en comparación co grupo placebo e o grupo control, aínda que estas diferenzas disipáronse a partir da sesión 11. En conclusión, o tDCS parece ser seguro cando se aplica en varias sesións en adultos novos sans, pero non é efectivo para mellorar a aprendizaxe das habilidades motoras en comparación cos grupos control e placeb

ReflectOns : mental prostheses for self-reflection

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, February 2013."September 2012." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-118).Since the time of the first philosophers, logic and observed human behavior have stood somewhat in contradiction. More recently, scientist have started to delve into decision making to understand why the way we act differs from rational choice, and indeed from our own desires. We believe that it is possible to use just-in-time feedback drawn from machine-observable behavior to help align behavior with personal goals. This dissertation presents mental prosthetics, a model for distributed, embodied, design-embedded, just-in-time interfaces that augment the human judgment process. Drawing information from the activity of the user around them, mental prostheses analyze behavioral patterns in a way orthogonal to human cognition. Unlike persuasive interfaces, mental prostheses attempt to align choices with personal goals by cueing the user with just-in-time information. Lastly, these devices provide calm yet understandable feedback to draw the user's attention at the correct time to the information available to them. This dissertation provides several prototypes and design explorations as a means of sampling the various approaches to data collection, synthesis, and feedback. Focusing on self-reflection, these sample designs form a subclass of mental prostheses that we term reflectOns. We show through the studies carried out in the course of this dissertation that these systems are effective in changing behavior to be better aligned with user goals. Lastly, this dissertation provides a set of design guidelines that assist in the creation of new mental prostheses. While we discuss a variety of scenarios in this work, it is only the beginning of the exploration. The design guidelines provide insight into both the critical aspects of the design of such systems, as well as possible input and feedback methodologies. These guidelines, together with the reflectOns themselves, provide a basis for future work in this area.by Sajid Sadi.Ph.D