Manipulating interface design features affects children’s stop-and-think behaviours in a counterintuitive-problem game

Gauthier, A. and Porayska-Pomsta, K. and Dumontheil, Iroise and Mayer, S. and Mareschal, Denis (2022) Manipulating interface design features affects children’s stop-and-think behaviours in a counterintuitive-problem game. Transactions on Computer Human Interaction 29 (2), pp. 1-22. ISSN 1073-0516.

Abstract

The human-computer interaction (HCI) design of educational technologies influences cognitive behaviour, so it is imperative to assess how different HCI strategies support intended behaviour. We developed a neuroscience-inspired game that trains children’s use of “stopping-and-thinking” (S&T)—an inhibitory control-related behaviour—in the context of counterintuitive science problems and tested the efficacy of four HCI features in supporting S&T: (1) a readiness mechanic, (2) motion cues, (3) colour cues, and (4) rewards/penalties. In a randomised eye-tracking trial with 45 7-to-8-year-olds, we found that the readiness mechanic increased S&T duration, that motion and colour cues proved equally effective at promoting S&T, that combining symbolic colour with the readiness mechanic may have a cumulative effect, and that rewards/penalties may have distracted children from S&T. Additionally, S&T duration was related to in-game performance. Our results underscore the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to educational technology research that actively investigates how HCI impacts intended learning behaviours.

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