The importance of neuroscience in the User Experience process
*being a non-native English speaker, this article may have language mistakes.
*Published, also, on the CodeCamp Blog.
With the evolution of technology and user needs, the concept of User Experience has begun to have a different meaning in creating a product, either physically or digitally, involving several areas of activity. To develop products as close as possible to user needs, neuroscience has begun to be a new area of interest to UX Designers precisely because it provides a much more solid foundation they can build on.
Let’s think a little bit… how our brain is working?
Before moving on, let’s do a simple exercise with something that we do daily to see how our brain works and how, in fact, “the magic” through which the information processing is happening. So, let’s take a website, for example. The eyes will receive visual information from the website and turn it into electrical pulses; then, the information will be transmitted further through the optical nerve to the visual processing center, which is medically known as the occipital lobe. It then passes into the parietal lobe, where it is separated and analyzed, but it still has no significance, which will happen once it passes into the frontal lobe. If information gains meaning, it will then be stored in long-term memory.
The frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is located in front of the cerebellum and is the largest, in size, of the lobes found in a healthy human brain. It is the center of our emotions (“How did I experience something?”) and cognitive networks (“This is how I experienced that.”).
Some of the essential functions of this lobe, which could facilitate the experience of a user with a physical or digital product, include:
- Reward & motivation. Dopamine is the primary neurotransmitter when it comes to feeling pleasure (e.g., when you eat a slice of your favorite cake), reward (e.g., when you have a badge in the application you use daily for counting your steps), attention (e.g., when the content you read complements your knowledge of a particular subject), and motivation. When the users use a product that rewards them (a process known as gamification), they will become faithful to it, precisely because most of the dopamine-sensitive neurons are located in the frontal lobe.
- Decision making. The decision-making process should be facilitated, especially for digital products, through the clarity of choosing A, B, or C. The more users have to choose from, the more they need information. If A, B, or C are ambiguous or the information is not presented easily, the more the users will try to find alternatives that will fit their needs. Let’s take an example, two websites on which similar products are sold, a site has review sections and the ability to see products at 360 degrees, and the other does not. When there is a similarity in products, the users will choose to use the site, which provides more information to help them decide.
- Predicting the consequences of the actions. The more a product triggers a series of possible steps the users already know or anticipate, the more the product will be used. It is happening because they are more comfortable with how to use it. These predictions may include patterns that repeat and build the chain of experiences that a user can have. For example, a pattern with which the users are accustomed is navigating a website and finding the company/product logo on the left side, finding the search item on the right side, etc.
The parietal lobe
Located behind the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe plays a crucial role in sensory perception and integration. Here, information separation and language processing take place.
Linked to linguistic processing, one example in this way, which hurts the processing, is the inconsistency of language in a digital product. Let’s take, for example, the Romanian language requires diacritics, and on some websites, this thing is applied in combination with words without diacritics, also written in Romanian. For example, “will fall” (translated without diacritics: “va va cadea”), vs. “will fall” (translated with diacritics: “vă VA cădea”).
In addition to being visually disturbing, users may feel frustration that comes naturally from language processing. In many cases, they have to spend more time reading (a few milliseconds, sometimes even seconds).
An example of an application that combines many of the parietal lobe functions is nightwalk.withgoogle.com. It includes visual and auditory information as well as spatial orientation and visual sign processing.
The temporal lobe
Located between the parietal and occipital lobes, the temporal lobe plays a crucial role in processing the auditory and meaningful audio or signal assignment. But besides these vital functions it has, it also deals with both memory and emotion.
A software product must provide a balance in terms of memory and emotion. For example, a website with a clear structure gives the user’s information and trust in that brand.
The occipital lobe
The occipital lobe records the characteristics of what we see and then passes the information to the other lobes to interpret it.
One of the most common practices that make reading difficult is the use of decorative fonts. Even they are not far from serifs or sans-serifs, they are pretty difficult to be interpreted by the visual cortex because it doesn’t find the forms as fast as in other situations.
Another handy practice helping read and then memorize is related to the text alignment. Even the justified alignment is more visually appealing; after several studies, the conclusion was that those forms created in the left alignment are helping the reading process be done more quickly. Also, the memorization of the text is easier when you have shapes in the text. However, text scanning, and not only, means another help for the brain. So, one of the most accessible solutions to implement is to use descriptive subtitles as often as needed.
“The enemy of memory isn’t time; it’s other memories.”
― David Eagleman, The Brain: The Story of You
David Eagleman, an American Neuroscientist and the author of “Incognito. The brain’s life,” said in a lecture once: “One brain neuron is as complicated as New York City.” Therefore, by taking this recital in mind, adding the cultural influence that a user can have, and the patterns that they follow, it is becoming increasingly clear that the most in-depth research is which can help us develop products that are best suited to particular needs/requirements. Reducing cognitive load (like reminding, thinking, making decisions at every step) helps the brain not to make an effort so much that at the end of the day, the user can have time and psychologically/physically availability, for example, do not have tired eyes, do not have headaches, etc.
Even if it can be a rather tricky task, especially if we are assaulted by unnecessary information, extra actions, etc., we can start taking small steps, for example, replacing where possible the scrolling with the click because of your brain’s effort will have will be minimal.
Resources:
- Andreea Popescu, YAPC Europe: The neuroscience beyond the usability
- Bill Brantley, The Data Briefieng: How neuroscience and Communiction Theory Inform Good User Experience Design
- Johannes Robier, UX Redefined. Winning and Keeping Customers with Enhanced Usability and User Experience, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 2016
