Using Virtual Reality to Overcome Legacy Bias in Remote Gesture Elicitation Studies.

End-user Gesture Elicitation Studies (GESs) are the cornerstone of gesture design research and are used extensively when designing gesture-controlled interfaces. With the increasing accessibility of consumer-grade immersive devices, GESs are reshaping towards encapsulated studies using VR as a medium. These VR GESs appear to be effective in addressing the lack of ecological validity and systemic bias in typical GES designs. Yet, VR GESs often suffer from legacy bias, a phenomenon where elicited interactions are distorted by prior experiences and require study designs to mitigate them. In this study, we present a VR GES design that embeds three legacy bias reduction techniques: priming, partnering, and production (3Ps), and compare the impact of each technique with four between-group VR GESs. We discuss our design algorithms along with the results of the design evaluation. From the results, we postulate conducting VR studies outside the laboratory with legacy bias mitigation techniques is feasible and further discuss the implications and limitations of running GESs using VR as a medium for overcoming legacy bias.