注目の論文一覧

Responsiveness in large language model (LLM) applications is widely assumed to be critical, yet the impact of latency on user behavior and perception of output quality has not been systematically explored. We report a controlled experiment varying time-to-first-token latency (2, 9, 20 seconds) across two taxonomy-driven knowledge task types (Creation and Advice). Log analyses reveal that user interaction behaviors were robust to latency, yet varied by task type: Creation tasks elicited more frequent prompting than Advice tasks. In contrast, participants who experienced 2-second latencies rated the LLM’s outputs less thoughtful and useful than those who experienced 9- or 20-second latencies. Participants attributed delays to AI deliberation, though long waits occasionally shifted this interpretation toward frustration or concerns about reliability. Overall, this work demonstrates that latency is not simply a cost to reduce but a tunable design variable with ethical implications. We offer design strategies for enhancing human-LLM interaction.

In interpersonal interactions, individuals often exhibit avoidance behaviors toward others they find unpleasant, which can undermine the comfort of everyday social experiences. Existing human-computer interaction (HCI) research has primarily focused on promoting social connections, while support for avoidance-oriented social situations remains underexplored. To address this gap, we propose leveraging Diminished Reality (DR) technology to obscure perceptual cues of undesirable individuals. We designed and implemented a mixed reality prototype system and conducted experiments manipulating both the occlusion method and social distance. Results indicate that DR significantly reduces users' social anxiety and sense of social presence. Moreover, participants generally expressed positive attitudes toward usage intention and ethical considerations. This work extends HCI research on social comfort, shifting the focus from "facilitating connection" to "supporting avoidance".

Despite their ubiquity, wireless earbuds remain audio-centric due to size and power constraints. We present VueBuds, the first camera-integrated wireless earbuds for egocentric vision, capable of operating within stringent power and form-factor limits. Each VueBud embeds a camera into a Sony WF-1000XM3 to stream visual data over Bluetooth to a host device for on-device vision language model (VLM) processing. We show analytically and empirically that while each camera's field of view is partially occluded by the face, the combined binocular perspective provides comprehensive forward coverage. By integrating VueBuds with VLMs, we build an end-to-end system for real-time scene understanding, translation, visual reasoning, and text reading; all from low-resolution monochrome cameras drawing under 5mW through on-demand activation. Through online and in-person user studies with 90 participants, we compare VueBuds against smart glasses across 17 visual question-answering tasks, and show that our system achieves response quality on par with Ray-Ban Meta. Our work establishes low-power camera-equipped earbuds as a compelling platform for visual intelligence, bringing rapidly advancing VLM capabilities to one of the most ubiquitous wearable form factors.

The use of AI in product design during early creative phases raises questions about its long-term consequences. Concerns are that extended AI use might inhibit creative cognitive processes, especially in novice designers. The aim of this study is to contribute to ongoing research in creative cognition and creative support tools such as AI in design. We conducted an exploratory study with 61 undergraduate students to analyze design exploration in sketching versus AI concept generation. The results indicate that AI groups produced a higher quantity and variation of total ideas (including text-based ideas), while sketch groups generated more image-based ideas. It was inconclusive whether the final image concepts from both AI and sketch groups were more creative. Additionally, homogenization effects were observed in the AI groups. Moreover, while the evolution of the design intent was evident in students who sketched, the focus in AI groups appeared to shift towards the tool (AI), which we analyzed as different design space exploration (DSE) prompting styles.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) conversational agents become widespread, people are increasingly using them for health information seeking. The use of off-the-shelf conversational agents for health information seeking could place high metacognitive demands (the need for extensive monitoring and control of one's own thought process) on individuals, which could compromise their experience of seeking health information. However, currently, the specific demands that arise while using conversational agents for health information seeking, and the strategies people use to cope with those demands, remain unknown. To address these gaps, we conducted a think-aloud study with 15 participants as they sought health information using our off-the-shelf AI conversational agent. We identified the metacognitive demands such systems impose, the strategies people adopt in response, and propose considerations for designing beyond off-the-shelf interfaces to reduce these demands and support better user experiences and affordances in health information seeking.

Systems' latency — the time between user input and system response — slows down the human-computer interaction loop. Several studies revealed negative objective and subjective effects of high latency, typically treating latency as a constant delay. Because latency varies significantly in practice, recent work also assessed the effects of large and sudden latency changes. In practice, however, latency variations are small but frequent. As the effects of such variations are unclear, we investigate how small latency variations (+/- 50 ms) affect users' performance and perceived task load for 2D target selection tasks with static and moving targets. For static targets, we found that latency variation causes significantly higher completion times and less efficient trajectories, however with small effect sizes. In contrast, we found no significant effects on any performance measure for moving targets. Our findings indicate that the effect of latency variation is generally very small and quickly disappears for non-trivial tasks.

This paper uses research through game design to explore how we can make video games that invite players to invent their own personal play-practices through making and changing rules. Through a reflective process of designing and playtesting a multiplayer game in which changing rules and parameters is the central mechanic, we have identified how we can create opportunities for players to exert their own creative authority on the structure of their play-practices. As our contribution, we present three design themes which aim to invite player authorship on practices of gameplay: opening up digital rules and parameters, bringing internal rules to the surface, and leaving space for internal goals. We also bring a larger discussion of these design patterns in which we investigate the duality of responsibility and freedom in play when we design for player creativity, and the role of video games as tools to make metagames.

Hands are the chief appendage with which we manipulate the world around us, creating sounds as they go. As such, they are a rich source of information that computers can leverage for input and context sensing. Indeed, many prior works in HCI have explored this idea by instrumenting users' hands with a microphone, often integrated into a ring, wristband, or watch. In this work, we explore an alternative bare-hands approach --- by using a microphone array integrated into a user's headset/glasses, we can use beamforming to create a virtual microphone that tracks with the user's fingers in 3D space. We show this method can capture even the subtle noise of a finger translating across surfaces, including skin-to-skin contact for micro-gestures, as well as passive widget interactions.

Pedestrian–automated vehicle(AV) encounters in shared spaces often involve hesitation and ambiguity. Vehicle-mounted external human–machine interfaces(eHMIs) can help, but obscured or poorly timed communications create significant challenges. To address this, we present a mobile smart pole interaction unit(SPIU) with integrated cameras and LED displays, designed as a pedestrian-side system to deliver explicit cues(``WALK,'' ``STOP''). An in-the-wild evaluation of the SPIU(N=21) using a four-factor analysis (CarBehavior, Mobility, eHMI, SPIU) showed that the SPIU improved understandability, trust, and perceived safety, and reduced workload compared with the baseline, with a combination(eHMI+SPIU) yielding the strongest results. Beyond these quantitative benefits, participants appreciated the mobility of the SPIU for its ``clear'' and ``easy to decide'' mediation. This work contributes to(1) a design and deployment framework for a mobile SPIU and(2) an in-the-wild evaluation protocol for pedestrian–AV interactions in nonsignalized spaces. Our work sparks discussions on real world evaluations involving detailed vehicle kinematics and accessible multimodality(e.g., audio), focusing on the role of personal robots as user-side eHMIs.

The process of leaving high-pressure, identity-defining communities can produce profound identity changes. This leaving process propels some people to seek support online and to share their experiences publicly. We interviewed 13 social media content creators who made content as a part of, or in response to, their leaving process to understand their motivations and the ways audiences engaged with their work. We then explored how platforms transformed creators' work into collaborative spaces for social support. As creators gained audiences, their visibility introduced new incentives, obligations, and risks. Creators had to manage the challenges of maintaining safe spaces for their audiences, meeting audience expectations, and addressing heightened safety concerns for themselves. We end by discussing the networked structure of creator-centered communities, the impacts of platform on creator communities, and the emotional harms associated with being at the center of a community focused on social support.

Toxic behavior is a problem in online gaming platforms such as League of Legends (LoL), undermining player well-being and fairness. Platforms increasingly optimize “engagement” without distinguishing between positive and negative participation. Drawing on dual-process theory, we ask when hostile interactions can become economically productive. In an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study with LoL players, Study 1 (N = 430) models how reflective, System~2 brand bonds (i.e., brand personality, brand involvement, brand engagement) and negatively valenced, System~1 reactive responses (self-reported toxic behavior) relate to in-game spending. Study 2 (N = 80) uses reflexive thematic analysis to show how players interpret, repair, and channel frustration and hostility through cosmetics, events, and progression systems. Across studies, toxic behavior is positively associated with self-reported purchases and partially transmits the association between reflective brand attachments and spending. We contribute a dual-pathways account of how governance and monetization infrastructures can fold harmful engagement into value extraction, and we outline critical design provocations for centrally governed, highly monetized platforms.

Parenting while serving as a frontline leader is uniquely stressful, yet little is known about how family responsibilities shape physiological stress in these roles. We followed emergency physicians and tactical police leaders, comparing parents of young children with non-parents across four days: one critical mission day, two standard workdays, and one non-workday. Using wearable sensing, expert activity labeling, and daily debriefs, we inferred stress only in sedentary epochs via a normalized-heart-rate method, with an HRV-based index as benchmark. Parents showed higher stress on workdays and non-workdays, but not on critical mission days, where attentional narrowing and strict device policies appear to suppress parenting-related differences. We contribute: (i) in-the-wild physiological evidence that parenthood amplifies stress mainly under permeable boundaries, (ii) a pragmatic stress-labeling pipeline for safety-critical settings, (iii) a configuration-based account linking boundaries, attention, and parenting, and (iv) design implications for stress-aware boundary management systems, supported by an open analysis repository.

Pet loss is a distressing experience often underappreciated by societal norms, leading to disenfranchised grief. We investigate how bereaved pet owners engage in online support groups, focusing on their motivations, interactions, and challenges. Through in-depth interviews with 18 participants, we identified key motivations for joining, including grief expression and validation, emotional and informational support, anonymity and accessibility. Engagement in these groups facilitated emotional expression, grief validation, memorialization practices, and the development of coping mechanisms, while also fostering shared rituals and collective identity. However, challenges like compulsory grief—where grievers feel pressured to remain in a constant state of mourning—and insufficient support for dynamic coping persisted. Drawing on the dual process model of bereavement, we propose the metaphor of oscillation design, balancing loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping. Our findings show that current platforms overemphasize loss, underscoring the need for design interventions that rebalance asymmetric oscillation and enable more dynamic coping trajectories.

We present SensoryBlox, a modular, multi-sensory user interface designed for integration with cardboard-based virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs). SensoryBlox features interchangeable sensory modules—vibration, temperature, wind, and olfactory—that enable users to assemble customized multi-sensory configurations tailored to diverse VR contexts. The system includes in-VR interfaces for module scanning, spatial tracking, and real-time customization of feedback patterns. To inform SensoryBlox design, we conducted three user studies. The initial study explored application scenarios and associated sensory modalities to identify design requirements for a modular multi-sensory VR system. Based on these findings, we developed the hardware modules and in-VR software interfaces. In the second study, we evaluated the usability and interaction experience of SensoryBlox across all functionalities. Finally, a comparison study examined the impact of multi-sensory feedback on user experience. Our findings demonstrate the potential of a modular multi-sensory system in enriching immersion and engaging interactions within low-cost VR environments.

While many modern gaming environments provide haptic feedback, laptop keyboard gaming remains largely without rich tactile interaction, despite a rapidly growing audience. In this paper, we propose the HapPalm interface, a novel laptop interface concept that delivers rich spatio-temporal vibrotactile feedback through the palmrest area, allowing players to feel game events with their palms. Our prototype uses dual 4×6 linear resonant actuator arrays. To render various game events with the HapPalm interface, our first study aims to create a haptic pattern dataset. Iterative design workshops identified 11 haptic pattern templates, of which our second study validated that they convincingly convey diverse game events. Our final study embedded these patterns into a custom game, showing that spatial haptics significantly improved fun, immersion, realism, and presence compared to non-spatial or no-haptic conditions. HapPalm interface demonstrates that palmrest-based haptics can enrich keyboard-only laptop gaming, providing an expressive and immersive tactile channel for future laptop interfaces.

Cognitively stimulating experiences are fundamental to supporting the welfare of zoo-housed animals. Puzzle-feeders are often initially engaging, but require frequent human intervention and often lack adaptability to support animals’ sustained cognitive engagement. We developed a modular adaptive puzzle-feeder designed to support user agency, independence, and multisensory feedback. The system was deployed over four weeks with an Arctic fox (\textit{Vulpes lagopus}) across progressive difficulty levels and piloted with two coatis (\textit{Nasua narica}). Combining HCI and animal science methodologies, we assessed (1) multisensory engagement, (2) changes in behavioral diversity and habitat utilization, (3) adaptation to puzzle complexity, and (4) impact on human stakeholders. Results show strong sustained engagement (46.5\% time-budget), increased behavioral diversity, habitat exploration, strategic problem-solving, and positive keeper and visitor reactions. This work highlights how technology can support animal welfare and visitor experience, and how mixed HCI and ethological methods enable holistic evaluation of enrichment and animal usership.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) adds unprecedented scale to capabilities for self-presentation online that may diverge from one’s physical-world identity, thus potentially misinforming consent to intimate interactions, such as in online dating. Yet there is little empirical understanding of AI-generated self-presentation and (non-)disclosure to interaction partners. We present a qualitative survey of 113 online daters who used AI-generated content in their profiles or messages seen by in-person meeting partners. Findings show that generative AI is often used to fabricate attractive dating personalities through profile text and bios, with no relevance to one’s actual identity, and is seldom disclosed to meeting partners to avoid romantic rejection. Because sexual assault is defined by mis- or under-informed consent, the study positions generative AI as a potentially significant sexual assault risk factor through its use for presentation of non-physical traits that are influential to dating outcomes yet not readily identified as AI-generated upon meeting face-to-face. Content warning: this paper discusses forms of sexual violence including rape by deception.

Algorithmic dating applications mediate romance through an "algorithmic mirror," subjecting users to data-driven classifications that shape their self-perception. However, the specific strategies users employ to interpret and strategically manage this reflection remain underexplored. Understanding this dynamic is critical, as navigating the algorithmic gaze demands significant emotional labor and has profound implications for user agency and well-being. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 OkCupid users, I investigated this process of sense-making. I contribute a novel typology of three knowledge forms, Folk, Personal, and Academic, that users construct to redefine themselves against the algorithm. Theoretically, this paper frames the "algorithmic other" as a statistical counterpart to Mead's "generalized other," revealing a core "dual-audience dilemma" where users perform for both humans and machines. These findings inform the design of more transparent and contestable systems that better support user agency.

Augmented reality (AR) games hold promise for rehabilitation, yet most remain confined to laboratory studies with limited clinical uptake. Recent advances in spatial computing, especially lightweight, glasses-form-factor AR, create a timely opportunity to embed rehabilitative play into clinical practice and daily contexts. To investigate this potential, we systematically reviewed 132 applications and conducted playtesting with 14 licensed physical therapists. Our analysis revealed three ways therapists re-authored AR games: co-authored play (reshaping movements, progressions, and difficulty), situated play (adapting across specialties, conditions, and contexts), and dual play (mediating both physical recovery and psychological support). We reframe therapists’ frequent phrase—“It depends”—as a generative design principle. This study contributes a clinical reasoning–based framework and design principles and guidelines for creating personalized, situated forms of play that align with therapists’ everyday workflows and inform future lab-to-clinic translation.

Video game archaeology is a relatively new field. This can involve studying players through the traces they leave in digital game worlds, though only limited work of this kind exists. Furthermore, the potential of these methods to record ephemeral play experiences for preservation purposes has not been widely explored. We conducted an archaeological survey of five sites in Elden Ring, taking place directly before, during and after the release of a major expansion. We present what is, to our knowledge, the first collaborative autoethnography of an archaeological survey in a video game, reflecting on our recorded footage, notes and data. Through a diffractive analysis, we demonstrate the value of video game archaeology as a form of hauntological practice that allows for a deeper reflection on the knowledge production process, and in doing so contribute to the development of new interdisciplinary methodologies in HCI, archaeology and games research.

Human–animal interaction in virtual reality has been explored for stress relief, yet balancing practical ease of use with natural haptic experience for relaxation remains a key challenge. We investigated whether mid-air ultrasound haptics, rendering breathing and fur stroking cues without wearable haptic devices, could enhance relaxation with a virtual cat. We first conducted a perceptual study to design a tactile cue for a cat’s breathing. By synchronizing expansion–contraction of the ultrasound focal region with intensity modulation, we demonstrated the realism and expressivity of the breathing cue. Next, we conducted an application study in which participants engaged in a short relaxation session with a virtual cat. Physiological and subjective measures showed that ultrasound haptics enhanced relaxation compared to both non-haptic interaction and controller-based vibrotactile feedback. These findings suggest that ultrasound haptics can extend VR-based human–animal interaction by combining accessibility with psychological benefits, opening new opportunities for well-being and therapeutic applications.

Technology offers new opportunities to support healthier food choices, particularly for individuals in low-income communities who face systemic barriers to obtaining nutritious, affordable groceries. We introduce a novel conceptual model of grocery planning that frames food purchasing as a multi-objective optimization problem that considers cost, nutrition components, and a consumer's personal dietary goals. Guided by Zimmerman’s model of Self-Regulated Learning and prior research on food agency, we designed the Food Information System, a planning tool that provides optimized product recommendations aligned with users’ goals by integrating store inventory, prices, and nutritional data. We evaluated our system in an eight-week within-subjects intervention with 55 participants from a food-insecure community, followed by focus group sessions. While overall Healthy Eating Index scores remained largely stable, participants reported improved nutritional awareness and greater perceived agency in planning and purchasing groceries. We discuss design implications to support food agency by promoting long-term food literacy and by enhancing autonomy in making food choices.

Decades of online fashion retail and investment in its usability have led to a seemingly refined user experience. Yet, our study shows that female online shoppers, who make up the largest user group, experience a conflicted love-hate relationship when shopping online. Adopting a feminist HCI perspective, we contribute insights from a multi-step qualitative approach involving probes, co-design, iterative prototyping and body maps. We demonstrate that even screen-based website designs are deeply entangled with users’ embodied experiences. Through our analysis, we identify where such designs contribute to heightened emotional labour and negative user experiences. Our work offers concrete design implications centred around inclusivity, the predictive user experience of wearing and caring for garments, and transparency of information. We embody these implications in an interactive prototype and use it to validate our recommendations for a body-centred approach to UX design.

Users of Virtual Reality (VR) primarily sense their environment through audiovisual cues. The lack of haptic feedback on their body can make them unaware of virtual obstacles outside their field of view. This lack of sensing can cause the user to unknowingly penetrate virtual objects, breaking the scene’s plausibility and disrupting the experience of other users in the same virtual space. We propose a haptic belt that increases the user’s scene awareness by rendering signals of collisions and proximity to virtual objects around the user. In a user study, we show that the belt improves spatial awareness both in a fast, high-stress scenario where the user's attention is limited and during a relaxed experience where the belt is the only source of information. The belt enables users to move closer to obstacles while reducing unintended collisions

Robots are increasingly expected to share elevators with people, yet little is known about the conditions shaping acceptance. We introduce the Robot Boarding Area (RBA)—a designated entry zone for robots—and examine how its availability and congestion affect user evaluations. In an online survey, acceptance sharply decreased once the RBA was occupied by any person or large object, even under moderate crowding. A VR experiment confirmed this pattern and further showed that participants preferred when robots refrained from boarding in crowded conditions compared to forcing entry. By formalizing the RBA as an acceptance criterion and demonstrating the value of adaptive skip strategies, this work identifies spatial availability and boarding behavior as central to socially acceptable robot deployment in elevators.

The sensation of a drink in the throat is a salient example of the internal bodily feelings that shape our eating experiences. Computationally modeling these sensations would enable their redesign and inform technologies that augment how we eat. However, methods for quantifying such subjective, internal states from objective cues remain underdeveloped. This paper introduces a computational approach to bridge this gap. A first study (N=31) models subjective ratings from laryngeal skin temperature and ingested volume, revealing distinct, individual Interoceptive Profiles. Informed by these findings, we developed a wearable device that provides thermal feedback to the larynx. A second study (N=20) demonstrates that this intervention can alter drink sensations, contingent on the user's sensory profile. Based on these findings, we highlight the potential of the larynx as a site for bidirectional interaction (sensing and modulating) and propose a novel approach for personalized sensory augmentation.

As more people turn to chatbots for socioemotional support—often termed psychosocial AI—the stakes of understanding these interactions grow. Psychosocial AI might foster healthier human-human relationships—and also might exacerbate loneliness, abuse, and self-harm. We provide an empirical account of one less-studied facet: seeking AI advice on sex, dating, and relationships with other people. We recruited 25 people who use AI for relationship advice to a questionnaire, collecting 90 prompts illustrating their practices. Interviews with 17 further explored how they navigate AI’s limitations to achieve intimacy goals. Our findings detail (1) the roles that users imagine for AI in relationship advice; (2) how users navigate risks like sycophancy and overreliance to attain relational benefits; and (3) the folk theories users hold and the prompting tactics they employ to overcome AI’s limitations. We close with recommendations for human-AI interaction, AI safety, and sociotechnical research, towards AI that supports healthier digital intimacies.

Haptic perception on touchscreens varies across fingers, yet little is known about how finger identity and multi-finger use shape tactile discrimination and user experience. We conducted two experiments with four haptic feedback. In Experiment 1, right-handed participants explored each of the ten fingers individually under stationary and moving conditions. Experiment 2 examined two-finger sequences with same participants. Results showed that moving exploration enhanced accuracy, confidence, and enjoyment, while stationary touch increased cognitive and physical load, especially for weaker fingers such as the left ring and pinky. The right thumb and index consistently performed best. In dual-finger trials, moving exploration improved second-finger performance, and adjacent same-hand pairs (e.g., Left Index–Left Thumb, Right Thumb–Right Index) yielded higher synergy. These findings highlight the role of finger anatomy, motion, and coordination, and provide concrete guidelines on which fingers (or combinations) and exploration modes to assign for haptic surfaces that optimize accuracy, comfort, and engagement.