INTERACTION BETWEEN SIGNAL COMPLEXITY AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN VIBRO-TACTILE COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Vibro-tactile displays have been gaining attention recently, in particular for hands and eyes busy applications or for orienting awareness in geographically distributed communication. However, identification and response time studies are rarely done in real-world situations that would reveal how physical activity and cognitive loads might interfere with performance. In this thesis, I show that physical activity conditionally interacts with vibro-tactile pattern identification depending on pattern complexity. I report on three experiments that first validate the the imapcts on activity, establish a measure of pattern complexity, and then in a series of trials across 10 participants engaged in various levels of physical activity, demonstrate that the level of physical activity interacts with the relationship between pattern complexity and performance. A follow-up questionnaire with participants sheds light on subjective experiences that correlate with the experimental results.