Cognitive Augmentation Through a Scripted-Agent Wearable Sensorimotor Interface: A Pilot Study

Super-Agents gained significant attention, resulting from the many artificial intelligences available that are often more capable than humans. These agents are perceived as external tools rather than as integrated extensions of personal cognitive capabilities. To date, embedding an Agent within a sensorimotor interface for cognitive augmentation has remained largely unexplored. Here, the Agent could not simply assist the user as an external tool, but engage at a deeper level, integrating into the sensorimotor loop to enhance human capabilities, and potentially becoming an extension of the user's body and perception. This vision raises key challenges, including defining optimal Super-Agent behavior and designing interaction strategies that support user performance and satisfaction without undermining the sense of control or becoming intrusive. In this work, we employ a scripted agent served as a behavioral probe to investigate how users might perceive a Super-Agent offering cognitive support, with particular attention to both the agent's functional capabilities and interaction modality. Through a pilot study, we examine the effects of these factors on task performance, perceived workload, and interaction quality. This investigation acts as an initial exploratory step, mapping out the baseline user behaviors required for future, dedicated studies on sense of agency and embodiment. A wearable sensorimotor interface enables users to communicate with the scripted agent, providing both control and tactile feedback. Our findings suggest that interacting with a more capable Super-Agent might lead to improved performance and better user evaluations. However, these improvements might be attributed to the Agent rather than the user's own abilities. Under these experimental conditions, objective performance gains were not accompanied by a subjective sense of enhanced personal capability, a key tenet of successful human augmentation. Furthermore, the interaction modality influences users' willingness to seek and accept help, as well as the extent to which they actively engage in completing tasks independently.