@inproceedings{c8b1262ac4a64d32a23111b481f288b5,
title = "Animacy and the Eye of the Beholder: A Mixed-Methods Study on Cognitive Animacy with a Kinetic Origami Surface",
abstract = "Previous research shows how animacy attribution is shaped by perceptual and cognitive processes based on morphological and behavioural characteristics. Existing evidence is largely focused on passive observation of movement on a screen or scenarios involving predefined interactions. We explore cognitive animacy perceptions of 19 participants during embodied engagement with a spatial-scale kinetic origami surface with no defined interaction modalities. In a mixed-methods study, we collected EEG data, Godspeed Questionnaire evaluations, videos of participants engaging with the surface and semi-structured interviews to understand participants' experiences. Our results show individuals' animacy perceptions are constructed through complex, embodied meaning-making processes, affected by artifacts' morpho-behavioural traits as well as individuals' actions and interpretations. However, widespread brain activations make it hard to pinpoint to specific neurological phenomena. We unpack intrinsic and extrinsic factors shaping animacy perception, articulate the importance of ambiguity in the design of animate' objects and present application scenarios for our prototype.",
keywords = "agency, animacy perception, behaviour, biological motion, cognitive animacy, kinetic design, origami, robot arm, spatial form factor",
author = "Charalampos Krekoukiotis and Giulia Barbareschi and \{Te Linde\}, Berend and Katsuki Higo and Ryogo Kawamata and Sotaro Shimada and Takatoshi Yoshida and Kouta Minamizawa",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",
year = "2026",
month = apr,
day = "13",
doi = "10.1145/3772318.3791969",
language = "English",
series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",
editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo Lopez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and \{Toups Dugas\}, \{Phoebe O.\}",
booktitle = "CHI 2026 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",
}