0000000001262925
AUTHOR
Kai Tuuri
Calm Down – Exploiting Sensorimotor Entrainment in Breathing Regulation Application
Various phenomena in human life are related to different kinds of rhythms. Not only are our bodily functions based on rhythms, but also much of the interaction with our environment is related to them. In this study, we explore breathing regulation and how it could be supported with an interactive application. The application is based on the concept of entrainment, in which two interacting entities adjust to a common rhythm. The focus is in the design of interaction elements which support entrainment process. A user study of a prototype application is also reported in the paper. The results indicate that the approach is promising and has potential in opening new perspectives to humancomputer…
Exploring Gameful Motivation of Autonomous Learners
In this explorative study, we investigated motives of autonomous learners to participate in an online course, and how these motives are related to gameplay motivations, engagement in the course experience, and learning outcomes. The guiding premise for the study has been the idea that learning and game playing carry phenomenal similarities that could be revealed by scrutinizing motives for participating in a massive open online course that does not involve any intentionally game-like features. The research was conducted by analyzing survey data (N = 705) collected from individuals who had voluntarily participated in an open online course about artificial intelligence and its societal impact…
Human-technology choreographies
Bodily movements have traditionally had mostly instrumental value in interaction design. However, movements can also be given a central role in understanding behaviour and in designing technology for humans. This workshop is aiming at taking a fresh, movement-oriented look at the design and evaluation of technology in a wide variety of contexts.
HEARING (WITH) THE BODY: ENACTIVE CONCEPTION OF BODY IN AUDITORY SENSEMAKING IN GAMES
Informal learning and wellbeing outcomes of gameplay and their associations with gameplay motivation
Educational functions of digital games are often seen only in the light of the serious and purposeful activities that aim for learning outcomes, in contrast with noneducational games that are designed for entertainment. The focus of this paper is in studying players’ learning outcomes from playing non-educational games, and how these relate to wellbeing outcomes of playing, and gaming motivation. The data for this study was collected via a survey (N = 1,202) in the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey respondents answered the question regarding what players perceive they have learnt by playing digital games. A generic datadriven qualitative content analysis of the responses to t…
Understanding Human–Technology Relations Within Technologization and Appification of Musicality
In this paper, we outline a theoretical account of the relationship between technology and human musicality. An enactive and biocultural position is adopted that assumes a close coevolutionary relationship between the two. From this position, we aim at clarifying how the present and emerging technologies, becoming embedded and embodied in our lifeworld, inevitably co-constitute and transform musical practices, skills, and ways of making sense of music. Therefore, as a premise of our scrutiny, we take it as a necessity to more deeply understand the ways that humans become affiliated to the ever-changing instruments of music technology, in order to better understand the coevolutionary impact …
Pelimusiikin käyttötavat ja funktiot suomalaisten arjessa
The uses and functions of game music in everyday life
 The premise of this article is the idea that games and their music do not only relate to playing, but are also part of people’s musical practices outside of the actual gameplay situation. However, so far very little research has been done on the meanings of game music outside of gaming. In this study, we aim for a broader understanding of people’s relationship with game music by examining how game music is used outside of the context of gaming. The empirical analysis of the article is based on two datasets collected in Finland. The primary material consists of written stories (N=183) about personally meaningful game music memories.…
Digital Games as a Source of English Vocabulary for Finnish Writers
The material for this paper comes from Finnish people who wrote about their experiences of the music of digital games. We collected 184 texts, all but one written in Finnish. There is relatively little code-switching into English at the clause level, but the vocabulary of the texts is influenced by English on a continuum from clearly English words such as comfy to established loanwords such as uniikki (‘unique’). We will consider how the influence of the English language used both in the games and in discussions about them characterizes the vocabulary of these texts and how the English language enables the authors to enter the game world. peerReviewed
Player perceptions of informal learning in non-educational games
The potential of non-educational games in learning is well-established, but there have been relatively few empirical studies attempting to explore the kinds of informal learning take place in non-educational games outside of formal education. Simultaneously, student motivation is known to have a connection to learning outcomes, but there is a lack of research on the relationship between gaming motivations and informal learning in games. This paper aims to fill the gap in research by, firstly, forming an empirically-based understanding of what players perceive they are learning from playing non-educational games, and secondly, exploring the potential connections of self-articulated learning …
Leaping across Modalities: Speed Regulation Messages in Audio and Tactile Domains
This study examines three design bases for speed regulation messages by testing their ability to function across modalities. Two of the design bases utilise a method originally intended for sound design and the third uses a method meant for tactile feedback. According to the experimental results, all designs communicate the intended meanings similarly in audio and tactile domains. It was also found that melodic (frequency changes) and rhythmic (segmentation) features of stimuli function differently for each type of message.
Understanding Human-Technology Relations Within Technologization and Appification of Musicality
In this paper, we outline a theoretical account of the relationship between technology and human musicality. An enactive and biocultural position is adopted that assumes a close coevolutionary relationship between the two. From this position, we aim at clarifying how the present and emerging technologies, becoming embedded and embodied in our lifeworld, inevitably co-constitute and transform musical practices, skills, and ways of making sense of music. Therefore, as a premise of our scrutiny, we take it as a necessity to more deeply understand the ways that humans become affiliated to the ever-changing instruments of music technology, in order to better understand the coevolutionary impact …
Drifting Down the Technologization of Life: Could Choreography-Based Interaction Design Support us in Engaging with the World and our Embodied Living?
The development of interactive technology is often based on the assumption of need to reduce the physical action and cognitive load of the user. However, recent conceptualizations, supported by research in various fields of science, emphasize human physical action in cognitive processes and knowledge formation. In fact, physical and closely related imaginary movement can be seen as the quintessence of humanity. Acknowledging this should imply a new approach to the design of interactive technology. In the current study, we propose a choreographic approach for shifting the focal point of interaction design to the aspects of human activity and movement within a technologized context. Hence, th…
Formulating a Revised Taxonomy for Modes of Listening
Abstract Listening to sounds or music is not a homogeneous act of grasping meanings by hearing. Yet it is often portrayed as such, especially when the intentional stance of a listener is overlooked. This paper distinguishes listening as the action-oriented intentional activity of making sense of the world. It is proposed that the multifaceted and heterogeneous nature of ‘understanding by listening’ can be outlined in terms of distinct modes of listening. Building upon previous accounts, a revised taxonomy of nine listening modes (reflexive, kinaesthetic, connotative, causal, empathetic, functional, semantic, reduced and critical listening) is proposed and illustrated by examples. Modes refe…
In Search for an Integrated Design Basis for Audio and Haptics
Audio and haptics as interaction modalities share properties, which make them highly appropriate to be handled within a single conceptual framework. This paper outlines such framework, gaining ingredients from the literature concerning cross-modal integration and embodied cognition. The resulting framework is bound up with a concept of physical embodiment, which has been introduced within several scientific disciplines to reveal the role of bodily experience and the corresponding mental imagery as the core of meaning-creation. In addition to theoretical discussion, the contribution of the proposed approach in design is outlined.
Human-Technology Choreographies : Body, Movement, and Space
Beyond Clicks and Beeps: In Pursuit of an Effective Sound Design Methodology
Designing effective non-speech audio elements for a user-interface is a challenging task due to the complex nature of sounds and the changing contexts of non-visual interfaces. In this paper we present a design method, which is intended to take into account the complexity of audio design as well as the existing audio environment and the functional context of use. Central to this method is a rich use scenario, presented in the form of a radio play, which is used as a basis for the work of design panels. A previous version of the design method is analysed and specific practical issues are identified. Solutions to these issues are presented in the form of a modified version of the method. In t…
Gestural Attributions as Semantics in User Interface Sound Design
This paper proposes a gesture-based approach to user interface sound design, which utilises projections of body movements in sounds as meaningful attributions. The approach is founded on embodied conceptualisation of human cognition and it is justified through a literature review on the subject of interpersonal action understanding. According to the resulting hypothesis, stereotypical gestural cues, which correlate with, e.g., a certain communicative intention, represent specific non-linguistic meanings. Based on this theoretical framework, a model of a process is also outlined where stereotypical gestural cues are implemented in sound design.
Bodily Engagement in Multimodal Interaction
The creative processes of interaction design operate in terms we generally use for conceptualising human-computer interaction (HCI). Therefore the prevailing design paradigm provides a framework that essentially affects and guides the design process. We argue that the current mainstream design paradigm for multimodal user-interfaces takes human sensory-motor modalities and the related userinterface technologies as separate channels of communication between user and an application. Within such a conceptualisation, multimodality implies the use of different technical devices in interaction design. This chapter outlines an alternative design paradigm, which is based on an action-oriented persp…
Linkages Between Gameplay Preferences and Fondness for Game Music
In this paper we explore connections between players’ preferences in gameplay and their desire to listen to game music. Music always takes place in cultural contexts and the activity of music listening is likewise entangled with versatile cultural practices. This is arguably evident in the case of game music since the primary context of encountering it is the active and participatory experience of gameplay. By analyzing survey data (N = 403) collected from the UK, we investigate how contextual preferences in gameplay activities predict fondness for game music. It was found that player preference for Aggression and Exploration are two precedents for liking game music. These findings indicate…
Pleasant Musical Imagery
This article introduces the notion of pleasant musical imagery (PMI) for denoting everyday phenomena where people want to cherish music “in their heads.” This account differs from current paradigms for studying musical imagery in that it is not based a priori on (in)voluntariness of the experience. An empirical investigation of the structure and experiential content in 50 persons’ experiences of PMI applied the elicitation interview method. Peer judgments of the interviews helped to bridge a phenomenological investigation of particular experiences with systematic between-subjects analysis. Both structural features of the imagery (e.g., Looseness of structure or Looping) and content features…
In Pursuit of Measuring Pre-reflective Music Listening Experiences
While the diverse effects and uses of music and sound have been extensively documented within music psychology, relatively little attention has been paid to the process and experience of listening itself. Previous literature have, however, considered different ways of attending to sounds via the concept of listening modes, which highlights the different ways and strategies through which listeners intentionally orientate themselves to the activity of listening and creating the experiential meaning of the sound. In this paper, we continue on these lines by focusing on the very basic attentional dispositions for listening that often remain unconscious. As op posed to more deliberate and intent…
Gestures within Human-Technology Choreographies for Interaction Design
In the traditional use-oriented approach, only a fraction of gestures are taken as relevant to interaction. In this paper we argue that gestures should not be handled only as isolated objects of application use, but they should rather be understood as dynamic moments of embodied presence belonging to an experiential chain of different movements which has its own significance as a whole. In the current study, we call the embodied, experiential continuum of human action choreography. We assume that choreography is a fruitful theoretical concept in understanding interaction design because by choreography we can understand gestures as building up a chain of a bigger whole. The dynamic formulati…
Design and evaluation of prosody-based non-speech audio feedback for physical training application
Abstract Methodological support for the design of non-speech user interface sounds for human–computer interaction is still fairly scarce. To meet this challenge, this paper presents a sound design case which, as a practical design solution for a wrist-computer physical training application, outlines a prosody-based method for designing non-speech user interface sounds. The principles used in the design are based on nonverbal communicative functions of prosody in speech acts, exemplifying an interpersonal approach to sonic interaction design. The stages of the design process are justified with a theoretical analysis and three empirical sub-studies, which comprise production and recognition t…
Käsitemetaforan näkökulma pelimusiikin henkilökohtaiseen merkityksellisyyteen
The perspective of conceptual metaphor on personal meaningfulness of game music
 The use of metaphors is prevalent when talking about music in everyday life as well as in more professional contexts. As such, the role of metaphors in describing and understanding music has been a topic for philosophical discussions and more recently also for empirical research. While most of the focus has traditionally been on the meaning of music, in this article we consider metaphors as related to the personal meaningfulness of music. More specifically, we investigate metaphoric expressions in personal narratives of fond game music memories, aiming to understand what the metaphors tell about the relati…
Identifying the Impact of Game Music both Within and Beyond Gameplay
This paper presents an overview of and a brief critical reflection on game music’s impact on players both within and beyond the context of gameplay. The analysis is based both on the current literature as well as on preliminary (work-in-progress) observations of our research project Game Music Everyday Memories. We consider how the functions and uses of game music potentially extend to people’s everyday life, thus constituting a personally and culturally meaningful relationship with music that is not immediately connected to gameplay. On the other hand, we consider the ways game music and a person’s attachment to the music are involved in gameplay motivation and potential game retention. As…
Investigating metaphors of musical involvement : Immersion, flow, interaction and incorporation
The concept of immersion, despite being relatively unknown within music research, presents a potentially productive way for understanding the well acknowledged phenomenon of "being drawn into music". This paper 1) discusses immersion as a metaphor for conceptualizing musical involvement by drawing on the research into video games and virtual reality and 2) aims to clarify the metaphor of immersion by utilizing the concept of image schema to analyze it in relation to alternative metaphors of flow, interaction and incorporation. The theoretical stance of the paper is based on the paradigm of enactive cognitive sciences, which stresses the bodily, constructive and interactive nature of experie…
Human-Technology Choreographies : Body, Movement, and Space in Expressive Interactions
Lampenius vai Ligeti? : symbolisen pääoman merkitys moderniin musiikkiin suuntautuvan musiikkimaun muotoutumisessa
Building Worlds Together with Sound and Music : Imagination as an Active Engagement between Ourselves
By conforming to the enactive approach to human cognition, and by adopting the Tia DeNora’s concept of human–music interaction as an “in-action” perspective, Kai Tuuri and Henna-Riikka Peltola explore socially extended imagining with sounds and music. This is done through a question of how “shared places” of imagining with sound are established and maintained. Defining the activity of imagining as an essentially dynamic and generative process that takes place in a social reality, the authors propose that the processes of imagining are not only individual but also become exhibited and jointly engaged in social dialogues as well. By first discussing the theoretical foundations of this shared …
Videopelien musiikin tutkimus
Tämä Musiikki-lehden teemanumero on ensimmäinen suomenkielinen antologia, joka kokoaa yhteen maassamme tehtävää pelimusiikin tutkimusta. Miksi tällainen julkaisu vuonna 2022? Erikoisnumeron ajoitusta voi näkökulmasta riippuen pitää kieltämättä yhtä hyvin joko aikaisena tai myöhäisenä. Aikainen julkaisu on sikäli, että pelimusiikin tutkimus ei ole vielä tätä tekstiä kirjoittaessamme erityisen vakiintunut tutkimusala Suomessa, puhuttiin sitten musiikkitieteen tai muiden lähialojen piirissä tehtävästä tutkimuksesta. Yksi tämän erikoisnumeron tavoitteita olikin tarjota Suomessa toimiville tutkijoille julkaisualusta ja hahmottaa sen kautta, millaisena alan tutkimus maassamme tällä hetkellä piirt…
Hearing gestures : vocalisations as embodied projections of intentionality in designing non-speech sounds for communicative functions
Gestural expressions in use for unveiling dynamic experience attributed to verbs
The focus of this paper is on justifying the presented experimental design that aims at examining the enactive linkages between a verb’s content and a sensorimotor experience of movement. The experiment utilised spontaneous production of hand and vocal gestures for expressing the energetic feel attributed to a word. Preliminary qualitative analysis of the expressions shows degrees of similarity in terms of experiential movement qualities. These results imply that conceiving a verb’s meaning is not necessarily far removed from bodily action. peerReviewed
Imagining between ourselves: a group interview approach in exploring listening experiences
In this paper listening experiences are explored through verbal interactions in a group interview situation. By focusing on (1) ordinary and (2) evocative modes of dealing with listening experiences, the present study investigated how imagination mediates between pre-reflective and reflective consciousness and how imagining is shared between persons. Analysis revealed that participants utilised both modes in their discussions for either music or everyday sound samples, although the ordinary mode was the dominant one. The evocative mode was utilised relatively more frequently with the music samples. Group dynamics had an effect on how the mental images and meanings were described and shared …
Who Controls Who? Embodied Control Within Human–Technology Choreographies
In this article we explore issues of embodied control that relate to current and future technologies in which body movements function as an instrument of control. Instead of just seeing ourselves in control, it is time to consider how these technologies actually control our moving bodies and transform our lived spaces. By shifting the focus from devices to choreographies among devices, we perform a theoretical analysis of the multidimensional aspects that reside within embodied interaction with technology. We suggest that it is beneficial to acknowledge and reformulate the phenomena of embodied control that go beyond the instrumental user-to-device control scheme. Drawing upon the phenomeno…
Pleasant Musical Imagery : Eliciting Cherished Music in the Second Person
This article introduces the notion of pleasant musical imagery (PMI) for denoting everyday phenomena where people want to cherish music ‘‘in their heads.’’ This account differs from current paradigms for studying musical imagery in that it is not based a priori on (in)voluntariness of the experience. An empirical investigation of the structure and experiential content in 50 persons’ experiences of PMI applied the elicitation interview method. Peer judgments of the interviews helped to bridge a phenomenological investigation of particular experiences with systematic between-subjects analysis. Both structural features of the imagery (e.g., Looseness of structure or Looping) and content featur…