Wow, Now I See It! — Leveraging the Physiology of Surprise to Help Designers Uncover Desirable Generative Designs

Proceedings of the 2026 Conference on Creativity and Cognition · 2026

Authors#

Larry Zhang, Leah Chong, Matthew Hong, Shabnam Hakimi, Alexandre Filipowicz, Matthew Klenk, Pablo Paredes

DOI

Abstract#

Generative AI enables designers to more broadly and rapidly explore design spaces. However, the sheer scale at which designs can be generated makes it difficult to identify which generated concepts deserve further attention. To support this identification process, we explore pupillometry—specifically pupil dilation—as a support signal for design evaluation. We conducted a study with 40 participants who viewed AI-generated bicycle designs while wearing eye tracking glasses to measure pupil dilation and rated designs on perceived surprise, valence, and feasibility. Using a linear mixed-effects model, we showed that highly surprising designs elicited stronger pupillary responses, modulated by valence. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that pupillometry can capture physiological surprise as a tacit triage mechanism — flagging candidate designs that elicit heightened physiological responses for closer inspection. We also discuss implications for integrating pupillometry into GenAI-augmented design processes.