scholarly journals Cognitive Load in eCommerce Applications—Measurement and Effects on User Satisfaction

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schmutz ◽  
Silvia Heinz ◽  
Yolanda Métrailler ◽  
Klaus Opwis
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Interactive Systems ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
General Satisfaction ◽  
Nasa Tlx

Guidelines for designing usable interfaces recommend reducing short term memory load. Cognitive load, that is, working memory demands during problem solving, reasoning, or thinking, may affect users' general satisfaction and performance when completing complex tasks. Whereas in design guidelines numerous ways of reducing cognitive load in interactive systems are described, not many attempts have been made to measure cognitive load in Web applications, and few techniques exist. In this study participants' cognitive load was measured while they were engaged in searching for several products in four different online book stores. NASA-TLX and dual-task methodology were used to measure subjective and objective mental workload. The dual-task methodology involved searching for books as the primary task and a visual monitoring task as the secondary task. NASA-TLX scores differed significantly among the shops. Secondary task reaction times showed no significant differences between the four shops. Strong correlations between NASA-TLX, primary task completion time, and general satisfaction suggest that NASA-TLX can be used as a valuable additional measure of efficiency. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between browse/search preference and NASA-TLX as well as between search/browse preference and user satisfaction. Thus we suggest browse/search preference as a promising heuristic assessment method of cognitive load.

Does Secondary Task Measure Outcome Conflict or Resource Allocation?

1992 ◽  
Vol 36 (18) ◽  
pp. 1398-1402
Author(s):  
Pamela S. Tsang ◽  
Tonya L. Shaner
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Tracking Error ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Memory Probe ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Task Measure

The secondary task technique was used to test two alternative explanations of dual task decrement: outcome conflict and resource allocation. Subjects time-shared a continuous tracking task and a discrete Sternberg memory task. The memory probes were presented under three temporal predictability conditions. Dual task performance decrements in both the tracking and memory tasks suggested that the two tasks competed for some common resources, processes, or mechanisms. Although performance decrements were consistent with both the outcome conflict and resource allocation explanations, the two explanations propose different mechanisms by which the primary task could be protected from interference from the concurrent secondary task. The primary task performance could be protected by resource allocation or by strategic sequencing of the processing of the two tasks in order to avoid outcome conflict. In addition to examining the global trial means, moment-by-moment tracking error time-locked to the memory probe was also analyzed. There was little indication that the primary task was protected by resequencing of the processing of the two tasks. This together with the suggestion that predictable memory probes led to better protected primary task performance than less predictable memory probes lend support for the resource explanation.

Controlling for Individual Differences in a Dual-Task Setting: Equating the Baselines of Single Task Performance

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (13) ◽  
pp. 916-920
Author(s):  
Bradley Chase ◽  
Holly M. Irwin-Chase ◽  
Jaclyn T. Sonico
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Stimulus Duration ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Visual Task ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Individual Participant ◽  
The Individual

Individual differences in human performance is an issue that confounds many studies and has not been properly controlled in the ergonomics/human factors literature. This paper examines the concept of individual differences in performance primarily from the perspective of cognitive performance. A study was designed to test the effect of a secondary visual task on a primary visual task. In one condition, participants performed the dual task, while assigning no weight to the secondary task. In the second condition, the primary task was performed simultaneously with the secondary task. The effect of the added workload was measured via the effect on primary task performance. In the baseline portion of the task participants had their baseline (80–90% accuracy) of performance collected by adjusting the stimulus duration. The individual participant stimulus duration was then used as the experimental stimulus duration and the effect of secondary task performance on primary task performance was measured.

scholarly journals Active Working Memory and Simple Cognitive Operations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Johanna Kreither ◽  
Orestis Papaioannou ◽  
Steven J. Luck
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Change Detection Task ◽  
Active Maintenance ◽  
Cognitive Operations

Abstract Working memory is thought to serve as a buffer for ongoing cognitive operations, even in tasks that have no obvious memory requirements. This conceptualization has been supported by dual-task experiments, in which interference is observed between a primary task involving short-term memory storage and a secondary task that presumably requires the same buffer as the primary task. Little or no interference is typically observed when the secondary task is very simple. Here, we test the hypothesis that even very simple tasks require the working memory buffer, but interference can be minimized by using activity-silent representations to store the information from the primary task. We tested this hypothesis using dual-task paradigm in which a simple discrimination task was interposed in the retention interval of a change detection task. We used contralateral delay activity (CDA) to track the active maintenance of information for the change detection task. We found that the CDA was massively disrupted after the interposed task. Despite this disruption of active maintenance, we found that performance in the change detection task was only slightly impaired, suggesting that activity-silent representations were used to retain the information for the change detection task. A second experiment replicated this result and also showed that automated discriminations could be performed without producing a large CDA disruption. Together, these results suggest that simple but non-automated discrimination tasks require the same processes that underlie active maintenance of information in working memory.

Does seeing gesture lighten or increase the load?

Gesture ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Autumn B. Hostetter ◽  
Stuart H. Murch ◽  
Lyla Rothschild ◽  
Cierra S. Gillard
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Comprehension Task ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Target Array

Abstract We examined the cognitive resources involved in processing speech with gesture compared to the same speech without gesture across four studies using a dual-task paradigm. Participants viewed videos of a woman describing spatial arrays either with gesture or without. They then attempted to choose the target array from among four choices. Participants’ cognitive load was measured as they completed this comprehension task by measuring how well they could remember the location and identity of digits in a secondary task. We found that addressees experience additional visuospatial load when processing gestures compared to speech alone, and that the load primarily comes when addressees attempt to use their memory of the descriptions with gesture to choose the target array. However, this cost only occurs when gestures about horizontal spatial relations (i.e., left and right) are produced from the speaker’s egocentric perspective.

scholarly journals Active Working Memory and Simple Cognitive Operations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Kreither ◽  
Orestis Papaioannou ◽  
Steven J Luck
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Change Detection Task ◽  
Active Maintenance ◽  
Cognitive Operations

Working memory is thought to serve as a buffer for ongoing cognitive operations, even in tasks that have no obvious memory requirements. This conceptualization has been supported by dual-task experiments, in which interference is observed between a primary task involving short-term memory storage and a secondary task that presumably requires the same buffer as the primary task. Little or no interference is typically observed when the secondary task is very simple. Here, we test the hypothesis that even very simple tasks require the working memory buffer, but interference can be minimized by using activity-silent representations to store the information from the primary task. We tested this hypothesis using dual-task paradigm in which a simple discrimination task was interposed in the retention interval of a change detection task. We used contralateral delay activity (CDA) to track the active maintenance of information for the change detection task. We found that the CDA was abruptly disrupted following the interposed task. Despite this disruption of active maintenance, we found that performance in the change detection task was only slightly impaired, suggesting that activity-silent representations were used to retain the information for the change detection task. A second experiment replicated this result and also showed that automated discriminations could be performed without producing a large CDA disruption. Together, these results suggest that simple but non-automated discrimination tasks require the same processes that underlie active maintenance of information in working memory.

Cost of Dual-Task Performance in Tactile Perception Is Greater for Competing Tasks of the Same Type

Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 515-538
Author(s):  
Dacey Nguyen ◽  
James Brown ◽  
David Alais
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Left Hand ◽  
Dual Task Performance ◽  
Tactile Modality ◽  
The Right ◽  
Secondary Stimulus

This study examines dual-task performance in the tactile modality and tests whether dual-task cost depends on task type. Experiment 1 involved competing tasks of the same type, using a primary localisation task on the left hand and a secondary localisation task on the right hand. In Experiment 2, the primary task on the left hand remained the same, while an intensity discrimination task was used as the secondary task on the right hand. Subjects in both experiments completed three conditions: the primary task alone, a dual-task condition, and the primary task with the secondary stimulus present but no response required. Across both experiments, performance on the primary task was best when it was presented alone, and there was a performance decrement when the secondary stimulus was present but not responded to. Performance on the primary task was further decreased when participants had to respond to the secondary stimulus, and the decrease was larger when the secondary task was localisation rather than discrimination. This result indicates that task type in the tactile modality may modulate the attentional cost of dual-task performance and implies partially shared resources underlie localisation and intensity discrimination.

The Assessment of Workload: Dual Task Methodology

1983 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur D. Fisk ◽  
William L. Derrick ◽  
Walter Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Operator Workload

The present paper outlines three major assumptions often implicitly assumed in dual task experiments conducted to assess operator workload. These assumptions are shown to be incorrect. Three criteria which should be met in dual task experiments that draw inferences from secondary task decrements are discussed. An experiment, meeting the proposed criteria, was conducted which demonstrated that when the criteria are met secondary task performance can be predictive of primary task difficulty. However, the data also indicate that a simple assessment of effort alone will not predict total task performance.

Acute Physical Exercise Affected Processing Efficiency in an Auditory Attention Task More Than Processing Effectiveness

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Dutke ◽  
Thomas Jaitner ◽  
Timo Berse ◽  
Jonathan Barenberg
Keyword(s):  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Auditory Attention ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Acute Physical Exercise

Research on effects of acute physical exercise on performance in a concurrent cognitive task has generated equivocal evidence. Processing efficiency theory predicts that concurrent physical exercise can increase resource requirements for sustaining cognitive performance even when the level of performance is unaffected. This hypothesis was tested in a dual-task experiment. Sixty young adults worked on a primary auditory attention task and a secondary interval production task while cycling on a bicycle ergometer. Physical load (cycling) and cognitive load of the primary task were manipulated. Neither physical nor cognitive load affected primary task performance, but both factors interacted on secondary task performance. Sustaining primary task performance under increased physical and/or cognitive load increased resource consumption as indicated by decreased secondary task performance. Results demonstrated that physical exercise effects on cognition might be underestimated when only single task performance is the focus.

scholarly journals Cognitive Load of Learner Control: Extraneous or Germane Load?

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieke Vandewaetere ◽  
Geraldine Clarebout
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Learner Control ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Computer Based Learning ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Computer Based Learning Environments ◽  
Dual Treatment

Computer-based learning environments become more tailored when learners can exert control over one or more parts of the learning process. Learner control (LC) demands additional efforts of learners because, in addition to learning, they also have to monitor that learning. As a consequence, LC may cause additional cognitive load and even cognitive overload. The central question in this study is what type of cognitive load is induced by LC and whether the experienced load is related to learning outcomes. For this study, half of the students had control over task selection, while the other half had not. Within each condition, students were assigned to a single treatment, with the primary task to solely focus on the learning content, and a dual treatment, comprising a primary task and a secondary task. The results indicate that LC did not impose higher cognitive load as measured by secondary task scores and mental effort ratings.

scholarly journals Adjustment of cognitive control to the frequency of dual-task interference

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Olszanowski ◽  
Natalia Szostak
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Control Experiment ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Dual Task Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Dual Task Interference

This study explored whether the control mechanisms recruited for optimising performance are similar for dual-task and interference-task settings. We tested whether the frequency of appearance of a secondary task resulted in an adjustment of anticipatory and reflexive forms of attentional control, as has been observed with other interference tasks (e.g. stroop and flanker). The results of two experiments demonstrated a proportion congruency effect (PCE): when a secondary task frequently appeared, primary task performance was slower. Additionally, there was a relative slowdown of dual-task performance in blocks wherein the secondary task appeared infrequently compared to blocks wherein it appeared frequently. However, this slowdown occurred when the primary task entailed a low level of control (Experiment 1) but was absent when it demanded a high level of control (Experiment 2). Overall, the results suggest that level of control can be adjusted to task demands related to the frequency of the secondary task.

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