KIT208 Assignment 2 Report

Share this post:

Introduction

Elevator Pitch:
This application tests the cognitive fitness of users by providing high-pressure timed challenges to complete. The final product would let users create a playlist of challenges that are fun to play while testing different aspects of cognitive fitness.

Full prototype playthrough:

Successful after interrupting AI.

There are several alternate outcomes based on:

- The user's success.

- Whether they fully listened to the AI voice at the beginning.

Failed after interrupting AI.

Successful after listening to AI.

Failed after listening to AI.

Application Description

This application tests the user’s cognitive fitness. The prototype has one challenge, whereas the final product would test multiple aspects of cognitive fitness, such as memory and reasoning. Users would be given an overview of their performance in each category. The prototype involves stacking a block tower before the timer expires, testing the user's ability to perform a simple task under pressure. The final app would be suited for recreational use and formal screening processes.

The scenario interface problem is providing an engaging way to test cognitive fitness. Most tests are done in-person or online through desktop interfaces and can be very repetitive / boring. This application is significant because it aims to acquire useful data by providing challenges that fully engage the user's brain. As such, the interface needs to allow the user to operate in 3D space (as humans operate in three dimensions) and provide satisfying interactions that match human characteristics (like realistically interacting with objects using hands).

VR is a significant solution because it operates in 3D space and utilises the bandwidth of the brain by fully encompassing the user's vision, focusing them on the challenges. A VR interface also provides excellent mapping / affordance, meaning users can better perform the challenge tasks rather than conforming to less human-like interfaces, such as desktops. The full application could take advantage of Oculus' hand tracking to better match human characteristics. Boredom rapidly degrades cognitive performance, so VR's strength of creating a large variety of immersive, interactive environments would keep the user actively engaged for more time, creating more data. A tangible AR interface could be an effective alternative, however VR was chosen due to its greater immersion strength.

Interaction Design

The main interaction is manipulating objects, such as grabbing and altering the position of cubes in the tower stacking challenge, which utilises VR’s strength of allowing users to meaningfully operate in 3D space. This provides strong feedback, immersing them in the virtual world, which is another core strength of VR. This immersion can result in the user performing tasks for long periods of time, creating substantial data to gain knowledge of cognitive fitness. Using VR’s strength of matching human characteristics, the full application would create a variety of physical challenges not possible with a desktop interface or pen / paper, resulting in more useful data. Furthermore, by being in a virtual environment the interactive challenges can achieve interesting results, such as including many countdown timer screens. This creates a pressure for the user that is difficult to produce in real life, which can reveal data not found in conventional tests.

Another interaction in this prototype was having responsive buttons. These have strong affordance qualities, as users intuit that pressing it will cause some effect. The buttons also have good mapping; pressing them turns on the screens and changes the music / lights. These interactions make the app feel highly responsive, keeping users actively engaged for longer.

Finally, the user interacts with the AI voice. By allowing the user to affect its attitude towards them, they can grow an attachment or disdain for this character. This could have interesting effects, such as the user wanting to perform better to appease the AI, or to spite them. This interaction takes advantage of VR’s immersive strength, as physically being in the same space as the AI character boosts the user's attachment to them. The full application would make the AI character highly robust, regularly commenting on the user’s actions and their overall performance. This could result in finding interesting data, such as how users perform when given positive / negative reinforcement.

Storyboard: