Dissertation (PRID301)

Abstract

Social interaction within virtual environments is on the increase, in accordance with both the rising prevalence of personal computer technology and the numerous forms of traditional communication being converted to formats suitable for the digital era. This is evidenced firstly by the growing popularity of various virtual social communication activities such as online social networking, and secondly the increasing sophistication and depth of interaction these services provide.

Consequently, there is a continual demand for the improvement of the interface through which these interactions can take place. Current interfaces are highly limited as to the depth and type of information they can respond to from their user. The field of biofeedback contributes aspects that could be crucial to the development of improved interfaces. Although its original purpose was to be a form of medical treatment, the field readily overlaps with the fields in human-computer interface design. The acquisition of physiological data that was originally only intended for use as a feedback loop for patients can actually be used for a much wider variety of purposes as an interface to virtual reality.

With the introduction of biofeedback technology as an interface, there will be a profound change in the means and methodology with which humans can interact with their virtual environments, and subsequently socially within them. Its gradual adoption is enabling the production of interfaces that are both more intuitive to their users and capable of garnering a wider variety of input relevant to particular activities, for instance prospective virtual social environments of the future.

This dissertation examines how the adoption of biofeedback technology into the interfaces for virtual environments will affect social interaction within them by exploring the way that the technology can be adapted to meet the already recognisable requirements for this interaction.