On the Benefits of Image-Schematic Metaphors when Designing Mixed Reality Systems

A Mixed Reality (MR) system encompasses various aspects, such as

• Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI; visualization and spatial registration of user interface elements, user Mixed / augmented reality; HCI theory, concepts and models. interactions and interaction feedback. Image-schematic metaphors (ISMs) are universal knowledge structures shared by a wide range KEYWORDS of users. They hold a theoretical promise of facilitating greater ease Image Schema, Mixed Reality, Instruction Authoring of learning and use for interactive systems without costly adapta-ACM Reference Format: tions. This paper investigates whether image-schematic metaphors Jingyi Li and Per Ola Kristensson. 2024. On the Benefits of Image-Schematic (ISMs) can improve user learning, by comparing an existing MR in-Metaphors when Designing Mixed Reality Systems. In Proceedings of the struction authoring system with or without ISM enhancements. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '24), May a user study with 32 participants, we found that the ISM-enhanced 11-16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 20 pages. https: system significantly improved task performance, learnability and //doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642925 mental efficiency compared to the baseline. Participants also rated the ISM-enhanced system significantly higher in terms of perspicu-This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License. users with varying skill levels.

One promising candidate for such design approaches is the con-CHI '24, May 11-16, 2024, Honolulu, HI, USA cept of image-schematic metaphors (ISMs). These ISMs are almost