Co-Design with Myself: A Brain-Computer Interface Design Tool that Predicts Live Emotion to Enhance Metacognitive Monitoring of Designers

Abstract

Intuition, metacognition, and subjective uncertainty interact in complex ways to shape the creative design process. Design intuition, a designer's innate ability to generate creative ideas and solutions based on implicit knowledge and experience, is often evaluated and refined through metacognitive monitoring. This self-awareness and management of cognitive processes can be triggered by subjective uncertainty, reflecting the designer's self-assessed confidence in their decisions. Despite their significance, few creativity support tools have targeted the enhancement of these intertwined components using biofeedback, particularly the affect associated with these processes. In this study, we introduce "Multi-Self," a BCI-VR design tool designed to amplify metacognitive monitoring in architectural design. Multi-Self evaluates designers' affect (valence and arousal) to their work, providing real-time, visual biofeedback. A proof-of-concept pilot study with 24 participants assessed its feasibility. While feedback accuracy responses were mixed, most participants found the tool useful, reporting that it sparked metacognitive monitoring, encouraged exploration of the design space, and helped modulate subjective uncertainty.