I really think it helps that the three-finger swipe is interactive, i.e. you can swipe at your own speed and even decide to go back in the midst of the gesture.

I really think it helps that the three-finger swipe is interactive, i.e. you can swipe at your own speed and even decide to go back in the midst of the gesture. I often peek at the adjacent spaces only to come back to my current space - it feels like looking left and right without moving my eyes. Using non-interactive keyboard shortcuts is much more disorienting IMHO.