My personal journey into User Experience (UX) Research and Design began during my Psychology degree at the University of the West of England. It was here that I learned that our use of technology is intertwined with our attention and memory capabilities. For instance, the way in which we attend to certain stimuli influences the way in which we perceive the content delivered on a web page. Read more to find out how our understanding of human psychology can improve UX research practices.
The Psychology of Attention:
Humans are unable to focus on everything around them at any one time instead, we attend to information deemed important and filter out the rest. Of course, this is a simplified definition of attention and psychologist have worked hard to identify different types of attention which will now be discussed.
Sustained Attention
"Sustained attention is a process that enables the maintenance of response persistence and continuous effort over extended periods of time." (Ko et al., 2017)
Picture this, you are a customer at McDonald's using the self-service kiosk to order your Big Mac meal. You want this process to be as simple and as quick as possible but you are constantly being distracted by an unwanted pop-up. This would subsequently impact your ability to sustain your focus on the task at hand. As such, McDonald's has created a user interface that is easy and straightforward for customers to use.
As UX designers and researchers, it is important to consider ways of making the experience of a user as simple as possible. However, this is task dependent as certain users may want to be challenged to sustain their attention. For example, video game players often expect a game to get harder over time as completing a difficult level is a reward in itself. For instance, within the game series Dark Souls, users are counter-intuitively encouraged to die over and over again to learn how to progress through the game.
Credit: Nintendo (2022)
2. Divided attention
Divided attention pertains to the ability to process more than one piece of information at one time (Cristofori & Levin, 2015). An example would be playing a game on your smartphone whilst simultaneously talking to a friend. This is a very important cognitive skill as it allows us to be more efficient in our day-t0-day lives. However, dividing one's attention comes at a cost, as when our attention is shared across different tasks, our performance decreases. For instance, drivers who use their phones when driving are much more likely to be involved in a car crash.
As UX designers we need to consider the negative impact of dividing one's attention as it will enable better design. We should ensure users of digital products are not overwhelmed by too many tasks and stimuli. For example, when filling out an online form, a user should only be asked to input information one at a time. This will quicken the process and reduce the risk of user frustration.
An example of a simple sign-up form that does not divide attention. Credit: Zoho Forms
3. Selective Attention
Selective attention refers to our ability to select and focus on particular input for further processing whilst simultaneously suppressing irrelevant or distracting information (Stevens & Bavelier, 2015). This has ramifications for UX designers as it can influence the way in which a user interprets a product as users attend to areas of a design as a result of expectations. For instance, when a user clicks on the dropdown menu on a website they will selectively attend to the subsequent menu that appears, meaning they may be unlikely to notice the search bar that has appeared at the top right-hand side of the screen.
This inability to notice changes in a visual display is known as change blindness. So, as UX designers we want to create digital experiences that reduce the risk of change blindness. Potential ways of doing this include:
Make one change at a time - this will also reduce the risk of overwhelming a user.
Whenever a change occurs, group all of the elements that will change together. Doing so will reduce the risk of a change going unnoticed.
Dim areas of the screen that do not change to guide attention to the changed/changing areas.
Use animations to signal the change - use this sparingly though, as you do not want to dilute a user's attention with too many animations at any one time.
Effectively dimming the image of the laptop, to make the font imposed over it more clear and easier to read. Credit: Orlee Gillis
The Psychology of Memory:
Our memory is a complex system within the mind which encodes, stores and retrieves data or information. Without it, we would be unable to make sense of our surroundings and would not be able to complete the most basic of tasks such as remembering where items are stored within our homes.
Considering its importance for all tasks, we as UX designers need to ensure we design and create digital experiences that complement our memories as opposed to hampering them. For example, when going through the onboarding phase of a mobile app, a user should not be provided with too much information as they will not be able to remember the core capabilities of the app they have just downloaded.
Types of Memory:
Most psychologists agree that there are three general types of memory:
1. Sensory Memory
This type of memory holds data (or information) for a short period of time (0.5-3.0 seconds) and is activated via the senses such as hearing, touch and taste. Sensory memory is unconsciously stored and is only passed onto our working memory when it is actively attended to.
An example of our sensory memory being activated is when we hear the sound of a notification from our mobile phones. This is then passed over to our working memory when we think 'oooh, I just got a notification, I wonder what it is about'.
Receiving a notification stimulates sensory memory. Credit: Buildfire
2. Working (aka short-term) Memory
Working memory refers to the part of memory that holds information temporarily and is essential for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behaviour.
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argue that working memory is made up of three core components: the Central Executive, the Visuospatial Sketchpad, and the Phonological Loop.
The Central Executive is regarded as the boss of working memory as it allocates data to the Visuospatial Sketchpad and Phonological Loop. It also deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem-solving.
The Visuospatial Sketchpad is used for navigation as it is the part of working memory that deals with visual and spatial information.
The Phonological Loop is the part of working memory that deals with spoken and written material.
We utilise our working memory when navigating different digital tools such as a website or mobile apps. For example, when using the language learning app Duolingo, users need to remember phrases from continuous tasks that would not have had enough time to enter the long-term memory store.
The Working Memory model. Credit: Jessica Wright
3. Long-Term Memory
Our long-term memory is “our storehouse of facts about the world and how to do things” (Wickens et al., 2013). Information is passed over to the long-term memory store through rehearsal and repetition. It can be accessed regularly and enables us to remember essential information, such as the location of our home and workplace.
With regard to UX, it is important to create products that relate in some way to products that have come before it as it is likely to be more accepted due to user familiarity. If a product is too radically different from anything a user has ever seen, then the learning curve may be too high.
Below is a relatively basic model of memory as proposed by Atkins and Shifren (1968):
Tips for Memory-Friendly UX design:
An example of a design that does not overwhelm the user with too much information. Credit: Marina Yalanska
1. Don't make users memorise multiple pieces of information at once
According to Nielsen (2009), the ideal length of a news headline is 6 words, as this corresponds with working memory capabilities. A longer headline requires more focus and may reduce the likelihood of a user reading an article. This can be applied to UX design, as a website that is crowded with too many elements may simply overwhelm a user. Instead, it is good to use a visual hierarchy where more important information is made more prominent. For example, within this article, the title is made large to instantly inform the reader what it is about.
2. Utilise recognisable patterns and symbols to save memory effort
Pictorial elements are often perceived faster than written elements. For example, users are quicker to perceive a magnifying glass as a search tool than the word search.
Users also have expectations which guide their behaviour. As UX designers, it is good practice to not stray too far away from these. For instance, users expect to see the logo and different links of a website within its header and expect to see the company's contact information within the website's footer.
3. Make the navigation of a design consistent
For a digital product to be usable, it needs to be easily navigated. Designers utilise different techniques to make this possible. For example, Duolingo consistently uses Duo (their mascot) to guide the user through their app. Designers also utilise elements such as arrows to make it clear how to progress through a digital design.
4. Make the core elements of navigation clear
The more important elements of your design should be easily spotted by target users. For example, within the header of your website, the key sections of your website should be visible and then the sections within these headings can be made clear when the user hovers the cursor over them. If a user has to actively search for key information during user testing then it may be worth considering a different way to present your design.
5. Stimulate different types of memory
Research suggests that people's sensory memories are activated more effectively through different senses, so one person may be more attracted to visual information whereas another person may be more attracted to auditory information. Therefore, our designs need to stimulate multiple senses.
Concluding Remarks
Understanding the psychology of attention and memory can help UX designers create digital products that are both easier and more enjoyable to use. In particular, we should never overstimulate a user, as they will not be able to effectively attend to information and will likely not be able to remember any new information.
Attention and memory are two types of cognitive capabilities but there are more for UX designers to consider such as decision-making. I may write about these in future blogs. For now, use this information to become a better UX designer and researcher - peace out!
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