An Interdisciplinary Study to Explore how Perception, Language, and Imagination Might Change the Way We Design Human Interaction with Museum Content and AI

Positioned at the intersection of perception, language, and imagination in the realm of Human-Computer Interaction, this study lays the groundwork - through an interdisciplinary and preparatory approach - for understanding language use and meaningmaking as key dimensions in the development of advanced, adaptive, user-driven interaction systems based on language for cultural contexts. Bringing together insights from linguistics, conceptual modeling, and multimodal communication studies, this research faces many questions. As museums increasingly integrate AI technologies - particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) - into their exhibits and visitor experiences, a number of critical questions emerge: How do perceptual and imaginative processes shape the way people understand words, meanings, and interpret complex linguistic cues? To what extent are these human-centered dimensions - rooted in embodiment, context, and sensory experience - captured, imitated, or overlooked by LLMs? And finally, how might these inquiries inform the design of museum spaces as sites of meaning-making, mediation, and interaction between humans and machines? Within this framework, the goal is not to claim that machines “understand” as humans do, but to investigate the extent to which they can mimic patterns of meaning-making rooted in human perception and embodied experience. Methodologically, the study builds on well-established resources and methods for linguistic data collection and processing and contributes new insights by combining lexical-semantic analysis, cross-modal word exploration, and comparative evaluations of meaning-making processes between humans and LLMs. Rather than prescribing design principles, this study offers a space for reflection on a more conscious approach to the complexity behind any form of interaction between humans or artificial systems. It raises questions about what we might need to do to best support truly human-centered interaction in museums, particularly when artificial intelligence systems become the tool for accompanying people with different sensory and cognitive abilities into sensory-rich environments