Effects of activity time limitation on gesture elicitation for form creation

Cognitive processing employed during design includes both time critical and time-consuming types of thinking. The ability to match the pace of design generation or modification with the designers thinking processes can be particularly important with gesture-based interfaces for form creation, especially where representation modes of input and response may influence the choice of activities performed. Particularly in gesture elicitation studies, time-consuming design activities can shift the focus on forming the analogies between problem at hand and prior knowledge and experiences, rather than intuitive gesture suggestions that would be the best fit for the given representation mode. However, design methodologies do not prescribe or discuss time limitations and their use in this context. In this paper, time limitation is explored during a gesture elicitation study for three-dimensional object creation, modification and manipulation, by comparing two study parts, one where time limitation was imposed and one where time was unlimited. Resulting gesture durations in both parts were comparable and elicited gestures were similar in nature and employing same elements of hand motion, supporting the hypothesis that time limitation can be a useful methodological approach when gestures are used for interaction with 3D objects and representation and interaction modalities are matched.