Research on the Neural Mechanism of Subconscious Evaluation of Mobile Interfaces in Smart Apps

Abstract

Following the development of mobile internet and smart devices, designing smart product interfaces is positively significant to enhance user experience and improving the quality of life. Users automatically produce implicit evaluations when they encounter or use the interfaces of smart devices. However, what happens in our brain after receiving the visual information? How do we process visual information? How do the interface design features affect the subconscious evaluation process? To answer these questions, the current study aims to investigate the neural mechanism of users’ subconscious evaluation process of mobile interfaces in smart apps by using event-related potentials (ERPs) technology. ERPs results showed that P1, N1, and N2 can reflect participants’ subconscious evaluation of mobile interfaces in smart apps. In conclusion, participants could evaluate the more obvious layout feature but ignore the less obvious color feature of mobile news app interfaces automatically. Moreover, both the right-hemisphere and valence hypotheses were observed in the current study. These findings enrich the design of mobile interfaces and user cognition theory. Besides, the present study established a feasible technological method for the acquisition of users’ implicit needs and provides a data foundation for smart service. In addition, it can help app designers to identify users’ implicit needs and compare the alternative prototype in the development stage of mobile interfaces.

Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants recruited in the experiment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Social Science Foundation of Liaoning Province, China [Grant No. L21CXW008].

Notes on contributors

Xue-shuang Wang

Xue-shuang Wang is a lecturer of Industrial Engineering at School of Mechanical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, China. Her research interests include Human Factors, User Experience Design, and Human-computer Interaction.

Fu Guo

Fu Guo is a professor of Industrial Engineering at School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, China. She obtained her PhD in Human Factors from Northeastern University in 2006. Her research interests include Human Factors, Kansei Engineering, User Experience Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, and Smart Home System Design.

Ming-ming Li

Ming-ming Li is a PhD student, at the Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, China. He obtained his Master degree in Human Factors from Northeastern University in 2017. His research interests include Human Factors, Human-Robot Interaction, User Experience Design, and Human-Computer Interaction.