Using cognitive script and cognitive lock-in theories, this paper presents the results of a user experience experiment that tested the user’s emotional and cognitive states when presented with a major redesign of a service provider’s website. A within-subjects design involved 57 participants, who engaged in both informational and transactional tasks during four consecutive visits to a financial institution’s website, generating a total of 772 observations. Psychophysiological data were collected as measures of cognitive load, emotional valence, and emotional arousal during users’ website visits. Results suggest that repeat visits to an updated website lead to decreased cognitive load and increased arousal. They also offered support for the moderating role of task type on the relationship between task repetition and the users’ emotional and cognitive responses. Specifically, transactional tasks were associated with a greater cognitive cost and lower valence than informational tasks during the initial visits to an updated site.

1. The Influence of Task Types
on User Experience after
a Web Interface Update
Tanguy Dargent
Alexander Karran, Ph.D.
Pierre-Majorique Léger, Ph.D.
Constantinos K. Coursaris, Ph.D.
Sylvain Sénécal, Ph.D.
Tech3lab, HEC Montréal

2. Change Aversion
4Typesof (Digital)ProductChange
1.Tocorrect- Corrective change
2.Toadapt- Adaptive change
3.Toprevent- Preventive change
4.Toperfect- Perfective change

3. BestPracticesforChange AversionMitigation
• Change little &often
• Use a productroadmap
• Communicate inadvance
• Be flexible betweenversions
• Provide ongoingsupport
• Listentofeedback
• Keeptesting

4. Cognitive Script
Theory

5. User Experience:
Affective and Cognitive
Responses to a New
Digital Interface

6. Task Categorization Framework
Component Category Content
Mode Visual, Auditory or Other
Content Verbal or Non-Verbal
Response
orientation
Relevant Info
Non-relevant info
Actionable content
Feedback
Thinking Working Memory
Inhibition
Set Shifting
Fluency
Planning
Insight
Social Cognition
Response Mode Motor, Vocal or Other
Content Verbal or non-verbal

7. Proposed
research model
(-)H1
(-)H2
H4
H6
H5
H3
Cognitive
load
Emotional
Arousal
Emotional
Valence
Task type
Repeated
visits

8. Measurement Construct Instrument Measure Sources
Valence Noldus
Facereader
(Wageningen,
Netherlands)
Standardized score
from 1 to +1
Ekman and Friesen
(2003); Ekman et al.
(1987), (Cacioppo et al.,
1986); Dimberg (1990),
Tuch et al. (2009) [35,
49-52]
Arousal BIOPAC MP150
sensors sampled
at 500Hz
(Goleta, USA)
Electrodermal
activity amplitude
(Standardized)
Boucsein, Fowles et al.
(2012), Roy et al. (2012)
[26, 53]
Cognitive
load
Tobii
eye tracker
(Danderyd,
Sweden)
Pupil diameter
(Standardized)
Laeng et al.
(2012) [54]

9. No Hypotheses Results
H1 Repeated visits to the new interface reduces cognitive load Supported
H2 Repeated visits to the new interface reduces emotional arousal. Not supported
H3 Repeated visits to the new interface increases emotional valence. Not supported
H4 The task type moderates the relationship between the repetition of tasks on the new interface
and cognitive load. So repeated visits will have less of an impact on reducing cognitive workload
in the case of an informational task, than in the case of a transactional task.
Supported
H5 The task type moderates the relationship between the repetition of tasks on the new interface
and emotional valence. So the increase in valence will be greater during the initial visits for an
informational task as compared to a transactional task.
Supported
H6 The task type moderates the relationship between the repetition of tasks on the new interface
and emotional arousal. So the decrease in arousal will be lesser during the initial visits for an
informational task as compared to a transactional task.
Not supported
Summary of findings

10. Implications
Support for the role of cognitive scripts in UX
• Reduce cognitive load
• Link between mental models and task analysis
Unexpected spike in emotional arousal with repeat visits
• Need for qualitative insights
• Valence unaffected, as expected
Effects of repeated web/I.S. use vary by task type
• Extends limited prior research on the role of task type (JMIS 2005; JAIS 2014)
• Future research in Use Continuance

11. Thank you!