Lucas Siqueira Rodrigues

Scientific visualization and tomographic imaging techniques have created unprecedented possibilities for non-destructive analyses of digital specimens in morphology. However, practitioners encounter difficulties retaining critical information from complex tomographic volumes in their workflows. In light of this challenge, we investigated the effectiveness of visuohaptic integration in enhancing memory retention of morphological data. In a within-subjects user study (N=18), participants completed a delayed match-to-sample task, where we compared error rates and response times across visual and visuohaptic sensory modality conditions. Our results indicate that visuohaptic encoding improves the retention of tomographic images, producing significantly reduced error rates and faster response times than its unimodal visual counterpart. Our findings suggest that integrating haptics into scientific visualization interfaces may support professionals in fields such as morphology, where accurate retention of complex spatial data is essential for efficient analysis and decision-making within virtual environments.

Haptic feedback reportedly enhances human interaction with 3D data, particularly improving the retention of mental representations of digital objects in immersive settings. However, the effectiveness of visuohaptic integration in promoting object retention across different display environments remains underexplored. Our study extends previous research on the retention effects of haptics from virtual reality to a projected surface display to assess whether earlier findings generalize to 2D environments. Participants performed a delayed match-to-sample task incorporating visual, haptic, and visuohaptic sensory feedback within a projected surface display environment. We compared error rates and response times across these sensory modalities and display environments. Our results reveal that visuohaptic integration significantly enhances object retention on projected surfaces, benefiting task performance across display environments. Our findings suggest that haptics can improve object retention without requiring fully immersive setups, offering insights for the design of interactive systems that assist professionals who rely on precise mental representations of digital objects.

Although Virtual Reality (VR) has undoubtedly improved human interaction with 3D data, users still face difficulties retaining important details of complex digital objects in preparation for physical tasks. To address this issue, we evaluated the potential of visuohaptic integration to improve the memorability of virtual objects in immersive visualizations. In a user study (N=20), participants performed a delayed match-to-sample task where they memorized stimuli of visual, haptic, or visuohaptic encoding conditions. We assessed performance differences between these encoding modalities through error rates and response times. We found that visuohaptic encoding significantly improved memorization accuracy compared to unimodal visual and haptic conditions. Our analysis indicates that integrating haptics into immersive visualizations enhances the memorability of digital objects. We discuss its implications for the optimal encoding design in VR applications that assist professionals who need to memorize and recall virtual objects in their daily work.

Fossil preparation is the activity of processing paleontological specimens for research and exhibition. Alongside traditional mechanical extraction methods, fossil preparation presently comprises non-destructive digital techniques within the emerging field of virtual paleontology. Despite significant technological advances, traditional and digital preparation remain cumbersome and time-consuming. However, this field has received scarce attention from a human-computer interaction standpoint. This study aims to present the current state of paleontological fossil preparation, highlighting its key challenges and initiating a dialogue about innovative designs to address current issues. Our research comprises a qualitative study involving technical preparators and virtual paleontologists. The study consists of two main parts: Firstly, a focus group session brought together preparators and researchers to discuss their workflows, obtain a preliminary understanding of their issues, and ideate solutions based on their counterparts’ experiences. Subsequently, a series of contextual inquiries involved direct observations and semi-structured in-depth interviews. By transcribing and analyzing the data through theoretical and inductive thematic analysis, we clustered emerging themes and applied concepts from human-computer interaction and related fields. Our findings report on challenges traditional and digital fossil preparators encounter, shedding light on potential opportunities to enhance their tools and workflows. This work contributes a novel analysis of fossil preparation from an HCI perspective.