3 research outputs found

    Cognition, technology and games for the elderly: An introduction to ELDERGAMES Project

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    Eldergames is a EU-funded project to develop games using advanced visualisation and interaction interfaces to improve the cognitive, functional and social skills of older users. The project merges two major areas to which technology for elderly people is applied: health and social engagement. Its platform will allow users to improve their cognitive skills and individual well-being by playing on a mixed-reality platform; in addition, it will offer the unusual experience of communicating with people located in other countries without the need to share the same language. After introducing the field of gerontology and the project, this paper describes the main cognitive abilities that change with aging (perception, attention, memory, and other more specific processes such as decision-making), and that have to be taken into account while designing a technology for elderly people. Some guidelines that are specifically meant to ensure usability of these products are listed in the conclusions

    How natural is a natural interface? An evaluation procedure based on action breakdowns

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    [EN] This paper describes an issue-based method to evaluate the naturalness of an interface. The method consists of the execution of a series of tasks on that interface, which is subsequently systematically analyzed to identify breakdowns in the users actions. The systematic analysis of breakdowns is allowed by the support of video-coding software (The Observer by Noldus). This method is described on its theoretical bases and then applied to the evaluation of a natural interface, a walk-in-place locomotion system for virtual spaces called Superfeet. The procedure is comparative, since Superfeet is compared to two locomotion devices, Superfeet enhanced with headtracker and a more traditional Joypad. The test involves 36 participants (mean age = 23.68, SD = 3.14). The outcomes of the breakdown analysis are illustrated at a progressively finer level of granularity from the amount and length of breakdowns, to the circumstances of the breakdowns, to the type of actions involved in the breakdowns. The potential of this procedure for usability studies is finally synthesized.Gamberini, L.; Spagnolli, A.; Prontu, L.; Furlan, S.; Martino, F.; Rey, B.; Alcañiz Raya, ML.... (2013). How natural is a natural interface? An evaluation procedure based on action breakdowns. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. 17(1):69-79. doi:10.1007/s00779-011-0476-zS6979171Bailey BP, Konstan JA, Carlis JV (2000) Measuring the effects of interruptions on task performance in the user interface. 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