Motor Expressions as Creativity Support: Exploring the Potential for Physical Interaction

This research explores the effects of physical interactions designed on the basis of motor expressions to support creative ideation in creativity support technologies. The presented research looks into the effects on creative ideation of incompatibility between motor expressions and problem situations, and appraisals of (un)pleasantness. We report the results of a preliminary study which suggests that affective incompatibility between a problem situation and a motor expression benefits creative ideation, and that pleasantness motor expressions enhance task enjoyment, which in turn leads to a beneficial effect on the originality of ideas generated. Based on these results, we conclude with two new directions for the design of physical interactions with novel creativity support technologies.