Interactive computer systems can support their users in problem solving, both in Performing their work tasks and in using the systems themselves. Not only is direct support for heuristics beneficial, but to do so modifies the form of computer support provided. This Paper defines and explores the use of problem solving heuristics in user interface design.

Connecting people across the digital divide is as much a social effort as a technological one. We are developing a community-centred approach to learn how interaction techniques can compensate for poor communication across the digital divide. We have incorporated the lessons learned regarding social intelligence design in an abstraction and in a device called the SoftBridge. The SoftBridge allows communication to flow from endpoints through adapters, getting converted if necessary, and out to destination endpoints. Field trials are underway with two (...) communities in South Africa: disadvantaged Deaf users and an isolated rural community. Initial lessons learned show that we have to design user interfaces that allow users to understand and cope with delay. We also learned that social concerns are often more important than the technical issues in designing such systems. (shrink)

The rise of ChatGPT affords a fundamental transformation of the dynamics in human-technology interaction, as Large Language Model (LLM) applications increasingly emulate our social habits in digital communication. This poses a challenge to Don Ihde’s explicit focus on material technics and their affordances: ChatGPT did not introduce new material technics. Rather, it is a new digital app that runs on the same physical devices we have used for years. This paper undertakes a re-evaluation of some postphenomenological concepts, introducing the notion (...) of quasi-materiality to better understand the role that user interfaces (UIs) play in affording different stabilities in technological mediation. We propose the term “active User Interface” (aUI) to denote the specifics of how ChatGPT makes use of LLMs within its UI design to afford seamless, intuitive conversations with a quasi-other in what Ihde termed “alterity relations”. Drawing inspiration from Peter-Paul Verbeek’s work on the intelligification of our material world through (AI) technologies, our analysis leads to the formulation of a novel stability afforded through aUIs: “machinic embodiment stability”. This concept sheds light on how ChatGPT’s aUI integrates with our established habits of digitally mediated social communication. As the use of LLMs is expected to become increasingly prevalent, this provides a new perspective on the current evolution of the technological landscape. (shrink)

Linear mixed-effects models (LMMs) are increasingly being used for data analysis in cognitive neuroscience and experimental psychology, where within-participant designs are common. The current article provides an introductory review of the use of LMMs for within-participant data analysis and describes a free, simple, graphical user interface (LMMgui). LMMgui uses the package lme4 (Bates et al., 2014a, b ) in the statistical environment R (R Core Team).

This paper describes a tool for assisting lawyers and paralegal teams during document review in eDiscovery. The tool combines a machine learning technology (CategoriX) and advanced multi-touch interface capable of not only addressing the usual cost, time and accuracy issues in document review, but also of facilitating the work of the review teams by capitalizing on the intelligence of the reviewers and enabling collaborative work.

Voice-based, spoken interaction with artificial agents has become a part of everyday life in many countries: artificial voices guide us through our bank’s customer service, Amazon’s Alexa tells us which groceries we need to buy, and we can discuss central motifs in Shakespeare’s work with ChatGPT. Language, which is largely still seen as a uniquely human capacity, is now increasingly produced—or so it appears—by non-human entities, contributing to their perception as being ‘human-like.’ The capacity for language is far from the (...) only prototypically human feature attributed to ‘speaking’ machines; their potential agency, consciousness, and even sentience have been widely discussed in the media. This paper argues that a linguistic analysis of agency (based on semantic roles) and animacy can provide meaningful insights into the sociocultural conceptualisations of artificial entities as humanlike actors. A corpus-based analysis investigates the varying attributions of agency to the voice user interfaces Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant in German media data. The analysis provides evidence for the important role that linguistic anthropomorphisation plays in the sociocultural attribution of agency and consciousness to artificial technological entities, and how particularly the practise of using personal names for these devices contributes to the attribution of humanlikeness: it will be highlighted how Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri are linguistically portrayed as sentient entities who listen, act, and have a mind of their own, whilst the lack of a personal name renders the Google Assistant much more recalcitrant to anthropomorphism. (shrink)

Driving a car is a highly visual task. Despite the trend towards increased driver assistance and autonomous vehicles, drivers still need to interact with the car for both driving and non-driving relevant tasks, at times simultaneously. The often-resulting high cognitive load is a safety issue which can be addressed by providing the driver with alternative feedback modalities, such as haptics. Recent trends in the automotive industry are moving towards the seamless integration of control elements through touch-sensitive surfaces. Psychological knowledge on (...) optimally utilizing haptic technologies remains limited. The literature on automotive haptic feedback consists mainly of singular findings without putting them into a broader user context with respect to haptic design of interfaces. Moreover, haptic feedback has primarily been limited to the confirmation of control actions rather than the searching or finding of control elements, the latter of which becomes particularly important considering the current trends. This paper presents an integrated framework on haptic processing in automotive user interfaces and provides guidelines for haptic design of user interfaces in car interiors. (shrink)

In this paper we review some problems with traditional approaches for acquiring and representing knowledge in the context of developing user interfaces. Methodological implications for knowledge engineering and for human-computer interaction are studied. It turns out that in order to achieve the goal of developing human-oriented (in contrast to technology-oriented) human-computer interfaces developers have to develop sound knowledge of the structure and the representational dynamics of the cognitive system which is interacting with the computer.We show that in a first (...) step it is necessary to study and investigate the different levels and forms of representation that are involved in the interaction processes between computers and human cognitive systems. Only if designers have achieved some understanding about these representational mechanisms, user interfaces enabling individual experiences and skill development can be designed. In this paper we review mechanisms and processes for knowledge representation on a conceptual, epistemological, and methodologieal level, and sketch some ways out of the identified dilemmas for cognitive modeling in the domain of human-computer interaction. (shrink)

Im Gegensatz zu einer mechanischen Verbindung dient ein Interface als physikalische und logische Schnittstelle zum Informationsaustausch zwischen zwei Systemen, die im technischen Sinn nicht direkt kommunizieren können. Es gibt Softwareschnittstellen, Hardwareschnittstellen, Benutzerschnittstellen, organisatorische Schnittstellen usw. Medienwissenschaftlich steht der Begriff für Mensch-Computer-Interaktion. Der Paradigmenwechsel hin zum Interface begann 1897 mit der Braun’schen Röhre, die Elektronenstrahlung für eine völlig neuartige ästhetische Form des Erscheinens nutzt. Ohne semiotische Flächen aus algorithmischen Zeichen, die weder Bilder noch Objekte sind, könnte das postmoderne Kommunikationssystem (...) nicht funktionieren. Es gilt zu klären, worum es sich bei den künstlichen Oberflächen (Bitmaps) handelt, die uns die Welt nicht länger begrifflich erfassen lassen, sondern mittels jener Flächencodes, die auf den Displays sichtbar werden. Die Geschichte der Verknüpfung von Bild und Bit, von Visualisierung und Information verändert das Verhältnis von Körpersinn und Medienoperationen (1). Neben der grundlegenden Form des Verhältnisses von Mensch und Technik geht es um die Entwicklung eines produktiven Umgangs mit dem digitalen Schein (2). Mit der Digitaltechnik wird eine Industriekultur verabschiedet, die dem menschlichen Körper angepasst war oder ihn verstärkt und erweitert hat. Die Medienmoderne delegiert Wahrnehmungen an die Apparate, Logik wird in Technik implementiert. Dies manifestiert sich posttypographisch in den visuellen Displays (3). (shrink)

This chapter discusses how to create a synthesizer user interference. It elaborates on the development of a synthesizer interface that can be used to experiment with a variety of synthesis topologies. Essentially, the source code uses less than 200 lines of code to implement the interface. The chapter then provides an overview of pushbuttons, rotary encoders, OLED display, and programming concepts including arrays, references, and object pointers that form the basis of an extensible synthesizer interface. It (...) explains that pin assignments for all switches and encoders are listed at the top of the source file, which will provide a useful vehicle for experimenting with menu systems and parameter manipulation. (shrink)

Purpose This study aims to investigate the ethical considerations and effectiveness of persuasive technology in educational settings, specifically focusing on course selection. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors explore the use and ethics of persuasion in the context of education, specifically regarding course selection in higher education settings. The authors conducted a survey involving students to assess their ethical perceptions of persuasive user interfaces and the impact of these interfaces on their decision-making processes. Participants were presented with different (...) class='Hi'>user interface designs that used various combinations of text and images to persuade them in their class selections within an institution based in Algeria. Findings The results reveal that students were only persuaded when they were unable to select what they wanted, and they did not even perceive themselves as being persuaded. Most participants found the persuasion for their own benefit and neutral (with no intention behind) to be ethically admirable. However, for the university’s benefit, most participants found the persuasion to be ethically neutral. In addition, in general they had neither a positive nor negative reaction to the attempt of persuading them. Research limitations/implications These findings suggest that, to influence student attitudes effectively, even when they retain freedom of choice, robust persuasive techniques may be necessary. At the same time, careful attention to ethical considerations is essential to maintain students’ positive perceptions. Originality/value The novelty of the study is addressing the use and ethics of persuasion through human–machine interfaces within a higher education setting, specifically among students in an Algerian educational institution. The main contribution is determining whether students can be persuaded with different interface designs (neutral design, persuasive design with a morally admirable goal, persuasive design with a neutral goal and persuasive design with a morally questionable goal), as well as whether they consider persuasion to be ethical. (shrink)

In The Interface Envelope, James Ash develops a series of concepts to understand how digital interfaces work to shape the spatial and temporal perception of players. Drawing upon examples from videogame design and work from post-phenomenology, speculative realism, new materialism and media theory, Ash argues that interfaces create envelopes, or localised foldings of space time, around which bodily and perceptual capacities are organised for the explicit production of economic profit. Modifying and developing Bernard Stiegler's account of psychopower and Warren (...) Neidich's account of neuropower, Ash argues the aim of interface designers and publishers is the production of envelope power. Envelope power refers to the ways that interfaces in games are designed to increase users perceptual and habitual capacities to sense difference. Examining a range of examples from specific videogames, Ash identities a series of logics that are key to producing envelope power and shows how these logics have intensified over the last thirty years. In turn, Ash suggests that the logics of interface envelopes in videogames are spreading to other types of interface. In doing so life becomes enveloped as the environments people inhabit becoming increasingly loaded with digital interfaces. Rather than simply negative, Ash develops a series of responses to the potential problematics of interface envelopes and envelope power and emphasizes their pharmacological nature. (shrink)

he World Wide Web is not just an electronic display of text and information. To navigate the WWW, readers need to make decisions about how to pursue and translate their decisions into physical actions. The Web is an interface. Because the WWW shares common ground with both papertext writing and with software interfaces, theories and research from interface design, human-computer interaction, and cognitive science can be used to improve web page interfaces and make the design and presentation of (...) information more effective and usable for the reader. One important similarity between writing and interface design is that both emphasize the need for a thorough audience analysis to determine the tasks, goals, and needs of the reader or user. Writers can apply their knowledge of techniques used to focus their writing on the needs of the user, such as reader analysis and reader-response criticisms, to the interface of the WWW document. (shrink)

Interface plays an important function in the operational process of modern interactive information technologies. Its task is to enable communication, signal exchange, and cooperation with the human mind. Technological interface is understood as the place where technology and software operating a computer must enter into interaction with the mind. The response is provided by the mind, which communicates with the machine performing the tasks imposed by the mind. The technology with its complexities can be a problem for the (...) operator, but on the other hand, the person can also be a problem for the technology by vague and unspecified tasks transferred for execution. I would like to view various aspects of the functioning of the interface by analyzing the four modalities: perceptual modality, associated with memory and experience, with the expectations of users, and conceptual modality related to understanding of the technology by the user. (shrink)

BackgroundThe neurotechnology behind brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) raises various ethical questions. The ethical literature has pinpointed several issues concerning safety, autonomy, responsibility and accountability, psychosocial identity, consent, privacy and data security. This study aims to assess BCI users’ experiences, self-observations and attitudes in their own right and looks for social and ethical implications.MethodsWe conducted nine semi-structured interviews with BCI users, who used the technology for medical reasons. The transcribed interviews were analyzed according to the Grounded Theory coding method.ResultsBCI users perceive themselves (...) as active operators of a technology that offers them social participation and impacts their self-definition. Each of these aspects bears its own opportunities and risks. BCIs can contribute to retaining or regaining human capabilities. At the same time, BCI use contains elements that challenge common experiences, for example when the technology is in conflict with the affective side of BCI users. The potential benefits of BCIs are regarded as outweighing the risks in that BCI use is considered to promote valuable qualities and capabilities. BCI users appreciate the opportunity to regain lost capabilities as well as to gain new ones.ConclusionsBCI users appreciate the technology for various reasons. The technology is highly appreciated in cases where it is beneficial in terms of agency, participation and self-definitions. Rather than questioning human nature, the technology can retain and restore characteristics and abilities which enrich our lives. (shrink)

Brain-computer interfaces are envisioned to enable new abilities of action. This potential can be fruitful in particular when it comes to restoring lost motion or communication abilities or to implementing new possibilities of action. However, BCIs do not come without presuppositions. Applying the concept of ability expectations to BCIs, a wide range of requirements on the side of the users becomes apparent. We examined these ability expectations by taking the example of therapeutic BCI users who got enrolled into BCI research (...) studies due to particular physical conditions. Some of the expectations identified are quite explicit, like particular physical conditions and BCI “literacy”. Other expectations are more implicit, such as motivation, a high level of concentration, pain tolerance, emotion control and resources. These expectations may produce a conception of the human and a self-understanding among BCI users that objectify the body in favour of a brain-centred, cerebral notion of the subject which also plays its part in upholding a normality regime. (shrink)

This Master’s thesis explores the relationship between Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and their human users from a functional, epistemological and phenomenological perspective. The analysis has four steps. I start out with a technical description of BCI systems in which I conceptually analyze different types of BCI applications. This results in the development of a taxonomy of applications which is the point of departure for further philosophical analysis. Thereafter, I explore the functional relationship between BCI applications and their users. That is to (...) say, I analyze functions of BCI applications, relate them to abilities of their users and explore how they extend these abilities. After that, the epistemological relation between BCI systems and their users is conceptualized by analyzing how they contribute to cognitive processes of their users, which is done by using the distributed cognition framework. And lastly, a postphenomenological framework is adapted to investigate how BCIs mediate the experiences of their users. This thesis ends with a reflection in which (1) possible developments in BCI research are placed in a broader historical-anthropological perspective, and (2) a moral consideration is given on the desirability of BCIs. (shrink)

This article theorizes the interface self: a mode of subjectivity emergent within algorithmically mediated platforms that organize labor, intimacy, and self-presentation. Neither merely expressive nor autonomous, the interface self is shaped through optimization logics, datafication, and feedback-driven design and use. Digital systems such as job platforms, dating apps, and social media increasingly co-constitute users as legible profiles, privileging metrics, preferences, and performative visibility. While often framed as empowering, this dynamic enacts new modes of soft coercion that aestheticize recognition, (...) gamify selfworth, and disarticulate agency from narrative coherence. To analyze this condition, the article first revisits Michel Foucault's theory of disciplinary power and its transformation under the regime of digital modulation. It then employs Andrew Feenberg's theory of instrumentalization to reveal the political and technical structuring of platforms, and draws on postphenomenological thinkers such as Don Ihde, Peter-Paul Verbeek, and Asle Kiran to explore the layered textures of technological mediation. Finally, it turns to posthumanist theorists, including Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, and Karen Barad, to refigure the interface self not as a loss of authenticity, but as a situated, relational becoming within socio-technical ecologies. Rather than seeking escape or transcendence, the article proposes a posthuman praxis of "dwelling within and against" the interface-cultivating opacity, ethical friction, and collective refusal from within systems designed to optimize and predict. The interface self, it argues, marks not the disappearance of the subject but its reconfiguration at a contemporary threshold. (shrink)

Expert systems have had little impact as computing artifacts. In this paper we argue that the reason for this stems from the underlying assumption of most builders of expert systems that an expert system needs to acquire information and to control the interaction between the human user and itself. We show that this assumption has serious linguistic and usability flaws which diminish the likelihood of producing socially acceptable expert systems. We propose a reversal of this paradigm, for the design (...) of expert systems, by assuming that it is the human user who needs to acquire information and to control the interaction between themselves and the system. (shrink)

This article makes a contribution to interface criticism through the notion of chrono-design: the deliberate shaping of experiences of temporality and time through contemporary software techniques and digital technologies. This notion is articulated through discussions of network optimisation, user experience design, behavioural tracking, Hansen’s work on 21st-century media and Hayles’ framework of cognitive assemblages. In particular, the argument considers how contemporary user interfaces complicate conventional notions of the rational, self-reflexive subject by operating beyond consciousness at vast environmental (...) dimensions and accelerated micro-temporal speeds. These conditions, we argue, provide opportunities for new forms of behavioural suspense and captivation best exemplified through the figure of the trap. The politics and aesthetics of captivation, accordingly, should be considered as central to any expanded ecology of cognition. The article then concludes with a short demonstration of experimental uses of chrono-design methods applied critically to political economies of user tracking and data capture as a prompt for further interdisciplinary applied research in this domain. (shrink)

Smart homes create a beneficial environment for the lives of elderly people and enhance the quality of their home lives. This study aims to explore the design of age-friendly interfaces that can meet the emotional needs of self-care elderly people from the perspective of functional realization of the operating interface. Sixteen elderly users aged fifty-five and above were selected as subjects with healthy eyes and no excessive drooping eyelids to obscure them. Four representative age-friendly applications with different interface (...) designs were selected from the Android application market as the stimulus material for the experiment, and a total of fifteen pages were browsed independently. During the experiment, the ErgoLAB human-computer environment synchronization cloud platform was used to monitor and record the subjects' multidimensional physiological indicators of eye movements, skin electricity, and heart rate variability when using different styles of mobile application interfaces. Combined with the post-experimental PAD emotion scale data, the preferences of emotional interface design elements of the self-care elderly were analyzed to guide the subsequent design practice. The results show that: on the layout characteristics of the home page, a simple and intuitive multi-column layout or card layout combined with a bottom navigation bar type main navigation is used; on the choice of the main color, a single color with low saturation is used as the main color, with high saturation color accents to play a role in highlighting key information; on the information density of the home page, a moderate proportion of graphics and text is adopted, with low information density; on the arrangement of the page content, they try to give priority to information content with high user relevance. (shrink)

Smart homes represent an effective approach to improve one’s quality of life. Developing user interfaces that are both comfortable and understandable can assist users, particularly the elderly, embrace smart home technologies. It’s critical to concentrate on the characteristics of smart home interface design and their impact on people of various ages. Since sliders are one of the most common components utilized in the smart home user interface, this article aimed to investigate the effects of slider design (...) characteristics on user performance and preference. Thirty-four participants were recruited for the experiment. Our results revealed that both groups had shorter task completion time, less fixation time, and saccades on horizontal sliding orientation and larger buttons, which means better user performance. For the older group, the slider with color gradient track led to better user performance, while the track color only had less effect on the performance of the younger group. In terms of user preference, the results and performance of the older group were basically consistent, while the younger group had no significant difference in sliding orientation and track color. (shrink)

Interaction between drivers and pedestrians is often facilitated by informal communicative cues, like hand gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. In the near future, however, when semi- and fully autonomous vehicles are introduced into the traffic system, drivers will gradually assume the role of mere passengers, who are casually engaged in non-driving-related activities and, therefore, unavailable to participate in traffic interaction. In this novel traffic environment, advanced communication interfaces will need to be developed that inform pedestrians of the current state (...) and future behavior of an autonomous vehicle, in order to maximize safety and efficiency for all road users. The aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive account of empirical work in the field of external human–machine interfaces for autonomous vehicle-to- pedestrian communication. In the great majority of covered studies, participants clearly benefited from the presence of a communication interface when interacting with an autonomous vehicle. Nevertheless, standardized interface evaluation procedures and optimal interface specifications are still lacking. (shrink)

Interface agents are increasingly being used to enhance the user-friendliness of computers. In the new mobile technology of handheld computers, interface agents are also being used to present on-line news. The purpose of the study was to explore how the gender of the interface agent and the user affect evaluations of the agent and the news service. The results revealed that attitudes toward the interface agent significantly correlated with evaluations of the entire news service. (...) Moreover, the gender of the participant and of the agent was significant for an evaluation of the credibility and entertainment value of the news service. (shrink)

Brain–Computer Interface research is an interdisciplinary area of study within Neural Engineering. Recent interest in end-user perspectives has led to an intersection with user-centered design. The goal of user-centered design is to reduce the translational gap between researchers and potential end users. However, while qualitative studies have been conducted with end users of BCI technology, little is known about individual BCI researchers’ experience with and attitudes towards UCD. Given the scientific, financial, and ethical imperatives of UCD, (...) we sought to gain a better understanding of practical and principled considerations for researchers who engage with end users. We conducted a qualitative interview case study with neural engineering researchers at a center dedicated to the creation of BCIs. Our analysis generated five themes common across interviews. The thematic analysis shows that participants identify multiple beneficiaries of their work, including other researchers, clinicians working with devices, device end users, and families and caregivers of device users. Participants value experience with device end users, and personal experience is the most meaningful type of interaction. They welcome end-user input, but are skeptical of limited focus groups and case studies. They also recognize a tension between creating sophisticated devices and developing technology that will meet user needs. Finally, interviewees espouse functional, assistive goals for their technology, but describe uncertainty in what degree of function is “good enough” for individual end users. Based on these results, we offer preliminary recommendations for conducting future UCD studies in BCI and neural engineering. (shrink)

Brain-Computer Interface is a set of technologies that are of increasing interest to researchers. BCI has been proposed as assistive technology for individuals who are non-communicative or paralyzed, such as those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal cord injury. The technology has also been suggested for enhancement and entertainment uses, and there are companies currently marketing BCI devices for those purposes as well as health-related purposes. The unprecedented direct connection created by BCI between human brains and computer hardware raises (...) various ethical, social, and legal challenges that merit further examination and discussion. To identify and characterize the key issues associated with BCI use, we performed a scoping review of biomedical ethics literature, analyzing the ethics concerns cited across multiple disciplines, including philosophy and medicine. Based on this investigation, we report that BCI research and its potential translation to therapeutic intervention generate significant ethical, legal, and social concerns, notably with regards to personhood, stigma, autonomy, privacy, research ethics, safety, responsibility, and justice. Our review of the literature determined, furthermore, that while these issues have been enumerated extensively, few concrete recommendations have been expressed. We conclude that future research should focus on remedying a lack of practical solutions to the ethical challenges of BCI, alongside the collection of empirical data on the perspectives of the public, BCI users, and BCI researchers. (shrink)

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) now enable an individual without limb function to “move” a detached mechanical arm to perform simple actions, such as feeding herself. This technology may eventually offer almost everyone a way to move objects at a distance, by exercising cognitive control of a mechanical device. At that point, BCIs may be seen less as an assistive technology for disabled people, and more as a tool, like the internet, which can benefit all users. We will argue that BCIs will (...) have a significant but uncertain impact on attitudes toward disabilities and on norms of bodily form and function. It may be liberating, oppressive, or both. Its impact, we argue, will depend – though not in any simple way – on whether BCIs come to be seen as parts of the body itself or as external tools. (shrink)

The Interface Theory of Perception, as stated by D. Hoffman, says that perceptual experiences do not to approximate properties of an “objective” world; instead, they have evolved to provide a simplified, species-specific, user interface to the world. Conscious Realism states that the objective world consists of ‘conscious agents’ and their experiences. Under these two theses, consciousness creates all objects and properties of the physical world: the problem of explaining this process reverses the mind-body problem. In support of (...) the interface theory I propose that our perceptions have evolved, not to report the truth, but to guide adaptive behaviors. Using evolutionary game theory, I state a theorem asserting that perceptual strategies that see the truth will, under natural selection, be driven to extinction by perceptual strategies of equal complexity but tuned instead to fitness. I then give a minimal mathematical definition of the essential elements of a “conscious agent.” Under the conscious realism thesis, this leads to a non-dualistic, dynamical theory of conscious process in which both observer and observed have the same mathematical structure. The dynamics raises the possibility of emergence of combinations of conscious agents, in whose experiences those of the component agents are entangled. In support of conscious realism, I discuss two more theorems showing that a conscious agent can consistently see geometric and probabilistic structures of space that are not necessarily in the world per se but are properties of the conscious agent itself. The world simply has to be amenable to such a construction on the part of the agent; and different agents may construct different structures as seeming to belong to the world. This again supports the idea that any true structure of the world is likely quite different from what we see. I conclude by observing that these theorems suggest the need for a new theory which resolves the reverse mind-body problem, a good candidate for which is conscious agent theory. (shrink)

Recent developments in the domain of communication Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology have raised questions about the ability for communication BCIs to read minds. How those questions are answered depends on how we theorize the mind and mindreading in the first place. Thus, in this paper, I ask (1) what does it mean to read minds? (2) can a communication BCI do this? (3) what does this mean for potential users of this technology? and (4) what is at stake morally (...) in light of this? I show that current answers to these questions are conceptually unclear and committed to a Cartesian picture of the mind and its relation to the brain, questionably informing how debates about BCIs as mindreading devices are framed. I offer an alternative perspective on these questions by turning to an enactive perspective on mindedness. I argue that this perspective can offer conceptual as well as ethical clarification about what is at stake in the domain of communication BCIs. From this perspective, the concerns raised about BCIs as mindreading machines are demystified. Instead, concerns are raised about BCIs as enabling users to flourish as authentic communicators. (shrink)

Brain–computer interfacing (BCI) aims at directly capturing brain activity in order to enable a user to drive an application such as a wheelchair without using peripheral neural or motor systems. Low signal to noise ratio’s, low processing speed, and huge intra- and inter-subject variability currently call for the addition of intelligence to the applications, in order to compensate for errors in the production and/or the decoding of brain signals. However, the combination of minds and machines through BCI’s and intelligent (...) devices (IDs) can affect a user’s sense of agency. Particularly confusing cases can arise when the behavioral control switches implicitly from user to ID. I will suggest that in such situations users may be insecure about the extent to which the resulting behavior, whether successful or unsuccessful, is genuinely their own. Hence, while performing an action, a user of a BCI–ID may be uncertain about being the agent of the act. Several cases will be examined and some implications for (legal) responsibility (e.g. establishing the presence of a ‘guilty mind’) are discussed. (shrink)

The objective of this article is to reflect on the application of Semiotics to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and interface analysis. To accomplish the objective the article presents an example of semiotic analysis of a blog interface but the methodology proposed, conveniently adapted, may be applied to any kind of digital interactive environment. The analysis reconstructs the interface sense production device (including the surface of the page and the link architecture), identifies implied users and exchange scenes of the (...) blog and concludes with some reflections on interface evolution and hybridation. Finally, the article proposes future trends for a Semiotics of HCI. (shrink)

This volume summarizes the ethical, social and cultural contexts of interfacing brains and computers. It is intended for the interdisciplinary community of BCI stakeholders. Insofar, engineers, neuroscientists, psychologists, physicians, care-givers and also users and their relatives are concerned. For about the last twenty years brain-computer-interfaces (BCIs) have been investigated with increasing intensity and have in principle shown their potential to be useful tools in diagnostics, rehabilitation and assistive technology. The central promise of BCI technology is enabling severely impaired people in (...) mobility, grasping, communication, and entertainment. Successful applications are for instance communication devices enabling locked-in patients in staying in contact with their environment, or prostheses enabling paralysed people in reaching and grasping. In addition to this, it serves as an introduction to the whole field of BCI for any interested reader. (shrink)

Interface, cartographical this chapter I will Play-ground the triadic relation between play, Mapping, digitalStructure, powerPower. I look at how playing with cartographical interfaces is a central and Neutrality, neutral activity to Mapping, digital that invites users to change cartographic landscapes in PlayfulSubversion, subvert, subversive ways, and thus containing potential to changing the Nature, naturalMap, mapping and the spatial relations they invite us to produce. Emergence, emerge, emergent of digital maps, Cartography, digital has changed drastically. Digital maps allow for a (...) greater degree of two-way interaction between map and user than analogue maps. Users are not just reading maps but can constantly Influence the shape and look of the map itself. Used on Video, mobile phones, on our computers or as satnavs in our cars, maps have become more personal—transforming while we navigate with and through them. Digital maps have thus altered our conception of maps as ‘objectified’ representations of space that has been a touchstone for centuries (Anderson 1991; de Certeau 1984; Crampton 2001; Harley et al. 1988). Instead, I will argue in this chapter, maps have become more open to Playful, subjective and subversive practices. Play is understood here as a range of activities that go beyond Ordinary life by taking on a PlayfulAttitude (Cermak-Sassenrath 2013) and as activities of pleasure (Fiske 1993) although not necessarily Fun (cf. Malaby 2007). I will probe is where exactly this room to play resides in the particular case of Mapping, digital and to what extent this gives users Agency. Certainly, the Image of the map has become mutable and seems to be open to play, but that does not necessarily mean that the Power lies solely in the hands of the player/user. How does Power work in such ever-transforming neo-cartographies and what affordances does the user/player have to change Power-relations? (shrink)

The rapid expansion of research on Brain-Computer Interfaces is not only due to the promising solutions offered for persons with physical impairments. There is also a heightened need for understanding BCIs due to the challenges regarding ethics presented by new technology, especially in its impact on the relationship between man and machine. Here we endeavor to present a scoping review of current studies in the field to gain insight into the complexity of BCI use. By examining studies related to BCIs (...) that employ social research methods, we seek to demonstrate the multitude of approaches and concerns from various angles in considering the social and human impact of BCI technology. For this scoping review of research on BCIs’ social and ethical implications, we systematically analyzed six databases, encompassing the fields of medicine, psychology, and the social sciences, in order to identify empirical studies on BCIs. The search yielded 73 publications that employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Of the 73 publications, 71 studies address the user perspective. Some studies extend to consideration of other BCI stakeholders such as medical technology experts, caregivers, or health care professionals. The majority of the studies employ quantitative methods. Recurring themes across the studies examined were general user opinion towards BCI, central technical or social issues reported, requests/demands made by users of the technology, the potential/future of BCIs, and ethical aspects of BCIs. Our findings indicate that while technical aspects of BCIs such as usability or feasibility are being studied extensively, comparatively little in-depth research has been done on the self-image and self-experience of the BCI user. In general there is also a lack of focus or examination of the caregiver’s perspective. (shrink)

Brain-computer interface based on steady-state visual evoked potential has been widely studied due to the high information transfer rate, little user training, and wide subject applicability. However, there are also disadvantages such as visual discomfort and “BCI illiteracy.” To address these problems, this study proposes to use low-frequency stimulations, which can simultaneously elicit visual evoked potential and pupillary response to construct a hybrid BCI system. Classification accuracy was calculated using supervised and unsupervised methods, respectively, and the hybrid accuracy (...) was obtained using a decision fusion method to combine the information of VEP and PR. Online experimental results from 10 subjects showed that the averaged accuracy was 94.90 ± 2.34% for the supervised method and 91.88 ± 3.68% for the unsupervised method, which correspond to the ITR of 64.35 ± 3.07 bits/min and 33.19 ± 2.38 bpm, respectively. Notably, the hybrid method achieved higher accuracy and ITR than that of VEP and PR for most subjects, especially for the short data length. Together with the subjects’ feedback on user experience, these results indicate that the proposed h-BCI with the low-frequency stimulation paradigm is more comfortable and favorable than the traditional SSVEP-BCI paradigm using the alpha frequency range. (shrink)