A Novel Method for Investigating Finger-based Representations using Virtual Reality

• Alyson M. de C. Souza Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte / Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien
• Roberta Barrocas Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien
• Korbinian Moeller Loughborough University / Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien
• César Rennó-Costa Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/svr_estendido.2021.17646

Resumo

Finger use plays an important role in the development of cognitive (e.g., numerical) concepts. Such embodied relationship between fingers and numbers persists even into adulthood when fingers are typically no longer used for counting. Better understanding how this embodied relationship builds up and plays out is a relevant and ongoing endeavor. To help researchers on this subject, we propose a novel method to investigate finger-based representations using virtual reality. The system is based on virtual hands that match the participant’s real hands through tracking and allows for manipulating the virtual model to produce incoherencies between the actual physical finger pattern and the virtual one. We briefly introduce the system components and discuss the first results of the usability of the system.

Palavras-chave: virtual reality, numerical cognition, virtual environments, finger counting, embodied cognition, cognitive science

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