Understanding Break-ability through Screen-based Affordances
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Can J.J. Gibson’s concept of affordances be empirically examined using screen-based technology? We show how screen-based affordances can be examined through the use case of perceptual toughness, i.e. the break-ability of a virtual object. We present two user experiments (n=72, n=66) examining break-ability through a novel ’Perceptual Impact Testing’ methodology and online screen-based 3D virtual environment. We show that judgements of break-ability are systematically distorted when a perceiver’s virtual ‘Point of Observation’ or virtual environment’s ‘Horizonal Geometry’ are manipulated. These statistically significant results provide evidence that: 1) direct perception can account for perceptual distortions of break-ability; 2) Gibsonian affordances can be empirically examined through screen-based interactions.
Authors: Richard Grafton, Oussama Metatla, Anne Roudaut
Institution: University of Bristol
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409735416