Passthrough is one of the major features of mixed reality (MR), a technology connecting physical and digital worlds. However, passthrough technology suffers from visual displacement between the cameras and users’ eyes, leading to negative symptoms such as nausea and disorientation. In this paper, the usability of the Meta Quest 3 passthrough feature was evaluated by conducting experiments in which 16 participants performed everyday tasks in a controlled indoor campus setting. These tasks included walking a predefined route, solving jigsaw puzzles, playing office basketball, and drawing a circle. Our results showed that passthrough technology hindered users’ experience in doing everyday tasks. They completed the tasks in longer periods and with higher error rates while using the headset. Additionally, users reported motion sickness and depth misperception, affecting their ability to perform accurate movements. Results demonstrate the need for improving rendering, calibration, and latency reduction to overcome limitations of passthrough technology in real-world tasks.

Mixed Reality is a promising venue for spatial ability training, allowing participants to engage in problem-solving through gesture-based interactions with holographic objects. 3-D measurement of learning in Mixed Reality environments may result in a better cognitive fit than 2-D. This mixed-method study measures and enhances mental rotation ability and investigates user experience in Mixed Reality. To assess mental rotation ability, we adapted the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test:Rotation for Microsoft HoloLens 2, creating a measurement tool for our Mixed Reality-based training program, Holomental. Comparing 2-D and 3-D tests, we explored how stimulus dimensionality influences accuracy and cognitive load. Our findings indicate that Holomental enhances mental rotation performance, both in 2-D and 3-D. Cognitive load in the 3-D test was lower than in the 2-D test. Semi-structured interviews revealed participants’ appreciation for the representational and interactional affordances of the training environment. This study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of 3-D spatial training, with implications and suggestions for future design considerations.

Mental rotation ability is a type of spatial skill that is important in many aspects of life. With technological advancements, 3-D visualizations are more frequently used for addressing this spatial ability. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of a Mixed Reality-based training module, Holomental, on Microsoft HoloLens 2 in improving the mental rotation ability of 22 undergraduate students. The results showed that the training improved the accuracy of the students’ responses by approximately 33%. Gender difference present before the training seemed to disappear after the training. The study contributes to our understanding of performance in Mixed Reality-based training.

A significant amount of literature has been published on Executive Functions (EFs). In recent years, researchers have shown increased interest in game-based EFs training. Designing custom digital games that target the subskills of EFs has been shown to reveal digital game design principles that may help cultivate EFs. This design-based research study aims to investigate digital game features linked to EFs, the connection between game structure and gameplay traits, and the EF-related behaviors of preschool-aged children. Within the scope of the study, three bodily interactive digital games targeting EFs and two e-textile materials accompanying them were designed and developed. Preschool children were recorded on video during the implementations, and their teachers were interviewed to address the research questions of the study. The developed games were found to challenge children to utilize their EF skills. This study reports on children’s performances, generalizable behaviors, and gameplay traits, as well as considerations to be made when designing digital games to foster EFs. Additionally, the study addresses issues related to bodily interaction.

This review aims to explore how mental rotation (MR) ability is enhanced using three-dimensional visualization. Earlier mental rotation trainings entailed two-dimensional drawings and representations that lack the necessary visual information present in three-dimensional spatial representations. Therefore, this review limits its scope to three-dimensional visualization-based training interventions using monoscopic, stereoscopic, and autostereoscopic 3-D displays as well as augmented and mixed reality displays to understand what representational fidelity can offer to improve mental rotation ability. ScienceDirect, Eric, SpringerLink and Web of Science databases were searched. A total of 51 articles were selected for the review. Results indicated that all studies but one found that 3-D visualization-based training significantly improved MR ability regardless of the technology and target group used. Allowing views from multiple angles was the most prominent affordance of 3-D visualization for MR training. The results also tentatively suggest that 3-D MR training is more effective than 2-D MR training. Furthermore, these systems may benefit females more than males while not imposing a greater cognitive load than 2-D training. The degree of immersion positively affects MR performance.

The increasing pervasiveness of inclusive educational environments poses an urgent need to implement research methodologies and practices that could shed light on how children's social interactions unfold in such contexts. Our work explores the use of mobile eye tracking technology in naturalistic, inclusive K12 education settings towards a richer understanding of the children’s interactive behaviours. This paper presents the children’s responses to, experiences with and impressions about the naturalness of using mobile eye tracking glasses during a collaborative group task. Results highlight the importance of understanding the children’s experiences to foster naturalistic research environments that closely reflect real-life complexity. Our work contributes towards the deployment of research designs in naturalistic contexts, providing important clues towards the collection of ecologically valid real-world data.

The purpose of this study is to delve into the teachers’ experiences of hands-on e-textiles projects and identify the dynamics holding the pillars of an educational STEAM camp. A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) program was prepared and then applied in two camps with two different science teachers who gathered from schools located in various districts. The interviews with teachers were triangulated with observations, camp evaluation forms, surveys, and design artifacts. The qualitative and quantitative data analysis shed light on five themes: experiences and opinions, expectations and satisfaction, perceived benefits, challenges, and suggestions. The results of this study have important implications for those (individuals and institutions) interested in using e-textiles focused STEAM camps as a means of supporting interdisciplinary learning.

As it covers a wide spectrum, the research literature of human-computer interaction (HCI) studies has a rich and multi-disciplinary content where there are limited studies demonstrating the big picture of the field. Such an analysis provides researchers with a better understanding of the field, revealing current issues, challenges, and potential research gaps. This study aims to explore the research trends in the developmental stages of the HCI studies over the past 60 years. Automated text mining with probabilistic topic modeling has been used to analyze 41,720 journal articles that are indexed by the SCOPUS database between 1957 and 2018. The results of this study reveal 21 major topics mapping the research landscape of HCI. By extending the discovered topics beyond a snapshot, the topics were analyzed considering their developmental stages, volume, and accelerations to provide a panoramic view that shows the increase and decrease of trends over time. In this context, the transition of HCI studies from machine-oriented systems to human-oriented systems indicates its future direction toward context-aware adaptive systems.

The aim of this study is to analyze and comparatively evaluate the usability of touch screen mobile applications through cognitive modeling and end-user usability testing methodologies. The study investigates the accuracy of the estimated results of a cognitive model produced for touch screen mobile phone interfaces. A mobile wallet application was chosen as the mobile software. The CogTool modeling tool was used as the cognitive modeling method. Eight tasks were determined and user tests were conducted in a usability laboratory with 10 participants. The tasks were compared on the basis of step time and total task completion time. This study reveals that CogTool gives approximate estimations with actual user performance on touch screen mobile phone application interfaces. However, if there are special cases in the tasks such that users are very accustomed to the steps or decision-making that is involved in the tasks, the “Think Operation” in CogTool should be modified.

Two experiments investigated whether playing video games impaired subsequent self regulation. In Experiment 1 (n = 43), participants either played a video game (i.e., Quake III) for 10 min or just browsed the Internet for the same time interval. Participants in the video game condition had slower response time than participants in the no-game condition. In Experiment 2 (n = 94), either participants played Quake III, or watched Quake III game scenes, or they were asked to suppress their thought for 10 min. Participants in the game-playing condition and thought suppression condition showed less persistence on a given unsolvable anagram task than participants in the game-watching condition. Overall, the findings confirm the idea that playing video game consumes self-regulatory sources due to active instead of passive responses in a highly demanding game environment.

Usability studies provide essential information about users' views and perceptions of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of given online services. Nowadays, e-government web sites become popular. Therefore, there is a need for usability testing to specify the usability problems and to make the services of the e-government more usable. The purpose of this study is to investigate usability of some Turkish e-government services. The study examined usability of five Turkish e-government web sites: Ministry of National Education - Student Information System (e-okul), Ministry of Justice - National Judicial Network Project (UYAP), Turkish National Police: Vehicle Search System, Social Security Institute: Service Details and General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre. It was conducted with nine participants. This study is a case study with mixed design methodology, in which both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed and combined. Quantitative data were collected through an eye-tracker, a pre-test questionnaire of participants' demographics and previous utilization of e-government web sites and a post-test questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through both semi-structured individual interviews and observation during test. The study results identify the usability problems encountered while using government services. The study concludes with specific recommendations for improvement of e-government services in Turkey.

This paper presents the results on students' expectations and instructors' usage of ICT during instruction in a Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University. Data were collected from 57 instructors and 477 students from different faculties of Manas University. Results show that there is discrepancy between students' expectations and the rate of instructors' use of ICT during instruction. The most important barriers of technology integration according to instructors are the lack of in-service training about ICT, lack of technical support, lack of appropriate software and materials for instructors. As enablers of technology integration are that in-service training about ICT should be improved in quality and quantity, more budget should be allocated to ICT, technology plans for implementing ICT in universities should be prepared, specific units and personnel should be allocated to peer support, and specific units and personnel should be allocated for public use of ICT tools. The results of this study can be generalized to the Kyrgyzstan- Turkey Manas Univesity, since it presents the situation with ICT from both instructors' and students' perspectives.

In this study, effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction of different menu designs were investigated. 24 graduate students voluntarily participated to the study. The results indicate that horizontal menus are more effective than vertical menus in terms of selecting sub menu items, overall task completion time is not related to menu design, horizontal overlapping menu design is the most effective one in terms of preventing user errors. Lastly, user satisfaction doesn't vary according to menu designs.

Users’ psychological and physiological differences have been sought by researchers. Cognitive style -one of these differences- is related to a person’s approach of getting, organizing, and processing information. It is indicated in the literature that cognitive style has the potential to affect the users’ interaction patterns in computer-based interfaces. This study was conducted to reveal the interaction patterns of users with different cognitive styles by using eye-tracking method. Results indicated that users’ fixation durations and places might vary among different cognitive style groups, but no statistically significant difference was found.

Apologizing or praising has various effects on people's motivation levels. One way to employ emotions in computerized environments is to present humanized messages like apologetic statements. In this study, a game offering apologetic statements for a group of subjects was used to understand the effect of apologetic statements in computerized environment. Findings have shown that the apologetic feedbacks made the subjects feel more respected, more comfortable, and more sensitive to their feelings. These findings confirm the legitimacy of the claim that computers' offering apologetic statements to the users can realize the real user-centered design.