Modality is the message: Interactivity effects on perception and engagement

S. Shyam Sundar, Qian Xu, Saraswathi Bellur, Jeeyun Oh, Haiyan Jia

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

New media interfaces offer a wide variety of modalities for interacting with systems. While typing and clicking remain the staple of most interfaces, several other modalities have emerged in recent years, enabling users to perform a range of other actions, such as dragging, sliding, zooming-in/out, mousing-over and flipping through a revolving carousel of images (as in cover flow). While each modality offers a unique way of interacting with information, it is not clear whether it brings unique psychological advantages. Does a drag engender greater user engagement? Is the mouse-over likely to enhance user's perceptual bandwidth? A scientific assessment of such effects is impossible with existing interfaces given the confounded nature of modality combinations and information provided by them. Therefore, we designed six Web interface prototypes with identical content, differing only in modality, for experimentally isolating the effects of each, using a between-subjects design. Ongoing data collection involves both physiological and psychological measures of perceptual bandwidth and engagement.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2010 - The 28th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference Proceedings and Extended Abstracts
Pages4105-4110
Number of pages6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Event28th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2010 - Atlanta, GA, United States
Duration: Apr 10 2010Apr 15 2010

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Other

Other28th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlanta, GA
Period4/10/104/15/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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