Understanding Gibsonian Affordances through the Use Case of Break-ability

: A Virtually and Physically Embodied Approach

Abstract

In this thesis we explore Gibsonian Affordances through the use case of break-ability and lens of human-computer interaction. Whilst affordances are a highly debated term in HCI (and often considered as a design heuristic) this thesis adopts a faithful adherence to the concept as a philosophical and embodied consequence of direct perception - as advocated by the psychologist J.J.Gibson and his followers of ecological psychology. As such this thesis explores what this means for the use case of break-ability, showing that interaction can be described through a holistic ecological language which specifies the dynamics of a human-technology-environment system. In more general terms, the thesis presents four broad contributions across theoretical, methodological, technological and empirical research types, comprising of:

• A faithful theoretical grounding for Gibsonian thinking in HCI, which posits affordances as “implications for perception research” rather than “implications for design”.

• A new mathematical model for examining break-ability through ‘Ecological Physics’ and the lens of “instrumental methods”.

• Two novel technical platforms to capture, measure, and evaluate affordance based behaviours through both a virtual and physical interface.

• A set of empirical studies which examine break-ability through virtually and physically embodied interfaces, provide insights for experimental design, and present statistically significant evidence for direct screen-based perceptual phenomena.

In conclusion this thesis attempts to posit affordances as a tool to open new avenues for an ecological HCI which rejects cognitivist traditions and embraces post-cognitivist foundations as a path to discovery.

Date of Award	30 Sept 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Sponsors	UKRI EPSRC
Supervisor	Anne Roudaut (Supervisor) & Oussama Metatla (Supervisor)