User characteristic-based information-providing service for museum with optical see-through head-mounted display: Does it evoke enthusiasm?

Abstract

In psychology, users' enthusiasm for products or services is categorized as a kind of intrinsic motivation. One theory states that enthusiasm is evoked when users perceive an adequate gap between their own characteristics and those of an object from the viewpoints of emotion, cognition, and ability. This study develops a method for computing an adequate psychological gap based on the characteristics of each user. We experimentally produce a service that makes each user feel the effect of the gap, and conduct a scientific evaluation. In particular, by focusing on the case of a museum, this study constructs an application to provide different sets of information to enable each user experience an adequate psychological gap with an optical see-through head-mounted display (OSD), and effectively evaluates whether this evokes user enthusiasm. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.