Exploring Bare-Hand Interaction Design and Evaluation Method for Interactive Experience of Cultural Heritage: A Case Study on the Digital Reconstruction of Yungang Grottoes
Zhi Qiao, Fanghao Song, Wengui Hu, Weihao Wang, Jinglei Xu, Yan Liu · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · 2025
Digital experience and bare-hand interaction (BHI) technique support users to engage with cultural heritage (CH) proactively. Humans perceive by following an interactive process, a fact that is particularly true in relation to the understanding, analysis and cognition of CH. We develop a BHI-based digital reconstruction and interactive narrative system for the central pagoda in Yungang Grottoes to enhance public accessibility. Furthermore, we devise an evaluation method for virtual heritage experiences, measuring cognitive load and usability using five metrics: brain region HbO2 data, NASA-TLX scores, performance, user satisfaction, and immersion. Results demonstrate that employing specific narrative strategies and BHI models for CH digital experiences effectively reduce cognitive load, consequently improving system usability and immersion. The subjective-objective combination of user experience evaluation method is universal and can effectively optimize the design strategies, which brings good insights and references for CH digital experience design and human-computer interaction research.