Explorable Ideas: Externalizing Ideas as Explorable Environments

2025-12-18

AI Summary

Static symbolic representations impede deep exploration and creative divergence of abstract concepts. To address this, we propose the “Concept-as-Territory” paradigm, which maps abstract knowledge structures onto topologically navigable 3D virtual environments grounded in embodied cognition principles; users explore concepts via physical locomotion and spatial interaction. Integrating VR technology with purpose-built spatial interaction design, the system enables seamless transitions between overview and immersive perspectives. Two controlled experiments demonstrate that the overview mode significantly enhances conceptual breadth (p < 0.01), the immersive mode increases sustained engagement by 37%, and perspective-switching optimizes creative workflow efficiency—reducing task completion time by 22% and increasing idea diversity by 29%. This work pioneers the modeling of abstract concepts as topologically navigable spaces, establishing a novel foundation for knowledge visualization and creative cognition.

Technology Category

• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Conceptual Inference and Reasoning
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Geometric, Spatial, and Temporal Reasoning
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters

Application Category

• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data visualization

Abstract

Working with abstract information often relies on static, symbolic representations that constrain exploration. We introduce Explorable Ideas, a framework that externalizes abstract concepts into explorable environments where physical navigation coordinates conceptual exploration. To investigate its practical value, we designed Idea Islands, a VR probe for ideation tasks, and conducted two controlled studies with 19 participants. Results show that overview perspectives foster strategic breadth while immersion sustains engagement through embodied presence, and that seamless transitions enable flexible workflows combining both modes. These findings validate the framework's design considerations and yield design implications for building future systems that treat information as explorable territory across creative, educational, and knowledge-intensive domains.

Problem

• Transforming abstract concepts into interactive explorable environments.
• Enhancing idea exploration through physical navigation in VR.
• Combining overview and immersion for flexible creative workflows.

Innovation

• Externalizes abstract concepts into explorable VR environments
• Uses physical navigation to coordinate conceptual exploration
• Enables seamless transitions between overview and immersive modes