Blind Children Navigation through Gaming and Associated Brain Plasticity
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Transcript of Blind Children Navigation through Gaming and Associated Brain Plasticity
Blind Children Naviga/on through Gaming and Associated Brain Plas/city
Jaime Sanchez, Angelo Tadres, Alvaro Pascual-‐Leone, Lo:i Merabet
Outline
• Introduc?on • Research purpose • SoBware descrip?on • Usability evalua?on • Brain plas?city • Conclusion • Future Work
Introduc/on
• For children who are blind, orien?ng oneself and moving about in an unfamiliar environment is an experience that can be complex and extremely variable (Kulyukin et al., 2004) .
• People who are blind prefer to navigate using the room’s perimeter (“shorelining”) rather than the center of a room. This way of exploring the environment can lead users to find inefficient solu?ons to problems (Kulyukin et al., 2004; Sánchez & Elías, 2007; Lahav & Mioduser 2004) .
Introduc/on
• Having a mental map of the space is fundamental for the efficient development of orienta/on and mobility techniques. (Piaget, 1954, 1956, 1962)
• One of the possibili?es for assis?ng in blind naviga?on is through the use of audio-‐based
games. There are a variety of studies that highlight the importance of the use of video games for learning. (Squire, 2003; Steinkuehler, 2004)
• The possibility of using educa?onal video games opens enormous possibili?es for working
with learners who are blind. It provides the opportunity to develop skills that might be more complicated (such as naviga/on) and to do so in a mo/va/ng and challenging mode. (Go & Lee, 2007)
Research purpose
• Design, implement and evaluate an Audio-‐based virtual Environment Simulator (AbES) for the development and use of blind users’ orienta?on and mobility skills in closed and unfamiliar spaces.
• Analyze concrete possibili?es for using this applica?on to study changes in brain ac?vity during naviga?on through gaming combined with advanced techniques of neuroimaging and neuroscience.
• Understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of naviga?on learning and the impact of gaming will allow the design of biologically op?mized, neuroplas?city-‐guided gaming interven?ons for neurorehabilita?on and learning.
SoPware Descrip/on
• Simula?on modes: – Free Naviga?on – Path Naviga?on – Game Mode
SoPware Descrip/on
• Simula?on modes: – Free Naviga/on – Path Naviga?on – Game Mode
SoPware Descrip/on
• Simula?on modes: – Free Naviga?on – Path Naviga/on – Game Mode
SoPware Descrip/on
• Simula?on modes: – Free Naviga?on – Path Naviga?on – Game Mode
Open Door
Closed Door
Wall
Jewel
Static Object
Empty
Stairs
Player Monster
SoPware Descrip/on
SoPware Descrip/on To Press Descrip/on
Turn LeB H To hear the verbalized audio of the cardinal direc?on you are facing aBer having turned leB.
Turn Right K To hear the verbalized audio of the cardinal direc?on you are facing aBer having turned right.
Walk Space If it is possible to advance, the sound of a footstep will be heard. Another sound will be heard that signifies having bumped into something if advancing is not possible.
Ac?on J This command is used to ask what is in front of you, as well as to open doors.
Ask Room F This command allows the blind user to know in what room/floor he/she is located, and provides informa?on about his/her current orienta?on and informa?on about the task that must be completed, (if any).
SoPware descrip/on
• Development – MicrosoB Visual Studio .Net, using C#
language – MicrosoB .Net Framwork 2.0 – MicrosoB Windows XP
• Minimal Hardware Requirements – 512 Gb Ram – Intel Pen?um IV processor – 10 Mb in HD – Stereo Speakers – Keyboard – Mouse
Usability Evalua/on -‐ Sample
• Six children ages 9 to 11 who anend the Santa Lucía School for blind children in San?ago, Chile
• Was made up of 2 girls and 4 boys
• None of them had any other neurological deficits
• 4 had low vision and 2 were blind since birth
Usability Evalua/on -‐ Instruments
• SoBware Usability Elements (SUE) Ques?onnaire was used, which allowed us to quan?fy the degree to which the sounds used in the simulator were recognizable
• Open Ques?ons Usability (OQU) Ques?onnaire was applied to the users, which included ques?ons such as: What informa?on provided in the soBware allows the recogni?on of the space? Were you able to move about easily? Why? Could you form an image of the space traveled through the sounds? How?
• SoBware Usability for Blind Children Ques?onnaire (SUBC) (Sánchez, 2003) This ques?onnaire consists of 18 items for which the users must define to what degree each of them was fulfilled, using a scale ranging from 1 ("a linle") to 10 ("a lot").
Usability Evalua/on -‐ Procedure
• The SUE ques?onnaire was completed during 20-‐minute sessions. With this results, the soBware was redesigned to improve the soBware's audio interface
• With this new version of AbES, the SUBC was completed in individual 45-‐minute sessions
– AbES was formally presented to the user – Explaning to user the modes of interac?on – The keyboard commands and the task that
user had to perform is explain
• The user proceeded to answer the OQU ques?onnaire
Usability Evalua/on -‐ Results
• Results of the SUE ques?onnaire
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Step on the floor
Step on the stair
Sta?c object
Wall
Closed door
Open the door
End of task
Found jewel
Monster
Ac/o
n or Object
Iden?fy
Don't Iden?fy
Usability Evalua/on -‐ Results
• Results of the SUBC ques?onnaire
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Sa?sfac?on Control & Use Sounds Image
Usability
Brain plas/city
• In parallel to the development and valida?on of the AbES, we are also inves?ga?ng the brain mechanisms associated with naviga/on skill by carrying out virtual naviga?on tasks within a neuroimaging scanner environment.
• Magne?c resonance imaging (fMRI), allow us to follow brain ac?vity related to behavioral performance. Func?onal MRI takes advantage of the fact that when a region of the brain is highly ac?ve, there is an oversupply of oxygenated blood to that region.
Brain plas/city
A) Subject playing AbES in the scanner
AbES projected on a screen
control keys
reflecting mirror
subject wearing
headphones
B) Brain activity related to navigation
visual cortex
auditory cortex
sensory-motor cortex
frontal cortex
Conclusion
• The study iden?fied key aspects of an interface necessary to grasp and construct a mental spa?al map for blind users, their needs, and ways of interac?ng with virtual technology. They are considered crucial for designing interac?ve interfaces for blind children that can determine the success or failure of audio-‐based virtual environments.
• AbES was developed by using user-‐centered design methodologies, resul?ng in a soBware with a high degree of usability and user acceptance. This represents an advancement on broader work inves?ga?ng the impact of the use of this tool on the development and prac?ce of orienta?on and mobility skills for legally blind users.
Conclusion
• One of the modes of interac?on in AbES is audio-‐based gaming. We intended for users to be able to play and enjoy the game and in doing so, learn to navigate their surrounding environment, get to know and understand the space, its dimensions and the corresponding objects.
• We hope that the results to be obtained in our ongoing research will shed some light on the brain mechanisms associated with naviga?on performance and learning over ?me with blind users interac?ng with audiobased interfaces such as AbES.
• Learning how the brain and related sensory mechanisms provide structure for naviga?on in blind users, and what areas are associated with the skill of naviga?ng through space and learning will provide some clues for poten?al use in training, learning and rehabilita?on.
Future work
• Obtain more qualita?ve and quan?ta?ve data on the behavior of the users while working with a simulator such as AbES, and its poten?al as a tes?ng and monitoring pla:orm for naviga?on and learning skills.
• Establish how the brain processes informa?on when the user plays and navigates within a virtual environment, how the users perceive this informa?on, and which are the key factors that lead to the genera?on of a spa?al mental map of the navigated space, as well as how that mental map of the virtual naviga?on is transferred to real naviga?on skills.
Blind Children Naviga/on through Gaming and Associated Brain Plas/city
Jaime Sanchez, Angelo Tadres, Alvaro Pascual-‐Leone, Lo:i Merabet