Continuous interactive simulation: Engaging the human sensory-motor system in understanding dynamical systems

AbstractDirect and continuous interaction with a simulated dynamical system enables the full human sensory-motor loop to be applied to the problem of understanding the behaviour of dynamical systems. A virtual environment consisting of a continuous interaction device and a multi-sensory display allows a user to interact with an arbitrary dynamical system in real time. The resulting tight coupling between the user and the dynamical system allows the user to explore the system through active participation in the dynamics of the system. An example drawn from population dynamics demonstrates that users with no specialist skills are able to discover a range of properties of an arbitrary dynamical system through sensory-motor exploration alone