Somatosensory system and Human-Computer Interaction
The Preface
Human evolution ages approx 2000 years or maybe more, on contrary to modern-day computers which is talk of a few decades though the urge to find a machine to do daily calculations exists as equals to human evolution.
The evolution of computers started with “First Computer” invented by Charles Babbage during early 19th Century, then First Analog Computer by Sir William Thomson in 1872, Then First Digital Computer by With the invention of computers, we evolved GUI and then GUI became the ground of modern-day theories of UX/HCI.
But it is really important to know, has Human Interaction (HI) existed before the invention of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)?
The answer would be,” Yes, it existed”.
The next possible question would be…
How human interact(ed) with world before or other than digital world?
In the era of William Shakespear, there was a commonly known calculation of having 5 wits and 5 senses. It is believed that these senses and wits are conceptualised over the work of Aristotle which was described in De Anima and De Caelo. Although the finding of 5 senses has been criticised e.g., Plato in Theaetetus advocated that there are more than 5 senses but later in the 14th century Richard Rolle and Geoffrey Chaucer again advocated to have 5 senses.
To understand in brief 5 wits also known as 5 inward wits, are how human process data e.g. imagination, fantasy, estimation, memory etc. and on contrary 5 senses, are how we collect data or you can say how we interact e.g., See, Hear, taste, smell and touch.
Understanding the concept of 5 senses and their role in HCI
Most of us use PC in our daily life and we know how we interact with it. We see something on a screen and we send respond either via keyboard or mouse. In the virtual world, the floating pointer on the screen is a gesture of our curiosity to touch and respond. Then there are chances we might use another sense e.g., To hear, as we can hear some alerts during some of the responses from PC e.g., error alerts, my be chat messages or might be while taking screenshots.
If we do calls then we can add more senses e.g. to hear and to speak. But making calls is no human interaction with PC it is like we are using PC to interact with another human sitting on another side of PC.
So, to conclude with the following could be a list of senses we use while we interact with PC:
- To See (Primarily)
- To Touch (Primarily)
- To Hear (Occasionally)
The human mind is an example of an amazingly intelligent machine. It keeps on memorizing data, storing it, recalling it at a perfect time and then storing it in the right kind of memory. In simple words, you learn things in daily routine and then add those learnt things into a special memory wherein you don’t have to recall it, things work on its own or you can say you develop reflexes. There are several examples like when you learn to drive, initially, you learn rules to drive, then you practice it and then after a certain period of practice you develop reflexes. You drive so easily. Your mind does all the complex calculations and you might not even know.
Although we use all 5 senses to memories things in daily routine but I would like to focus only on the senses that we use during HCI:
- See
- Touch
To see & memorize is the most common and most powerful thing we do in our daily routine. Our mind keeps on collecting visual data, do the analysis and stores if required.
Let’s understand it with an example, you visit a grocery store nearby, on a routine basis and you see many people but barely scan to recognize. But then one day a stranger comes and introduces,” Hello Raj, I live there & there”. Now, this is the time to collect some visual data — ” clicked” ;). It’s not that you collect visual data like this only. You are collecting data continuously e.g. while roaming in the store like you know where milk products are, where chocolates are and so on… you keep on memorizing.
To touch and memories, although we do collect touch data as regularly as visual data but we do not recognize it as we recognize visual data.
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