Adopting Maximum Pupil Diameter to Detect Subtle Usability Issues of a Smartphone Application, Conflict Solver

With the increasing popularity and unparalleled ubiquity of smartphones, researchers in various fields are designing and developing novel applications for this platform as part of the solution to the challenging problems they face. Usability lies at the core of the user experience of such applications. However, the assessments used are often limited to summative and post-event methods, which can overlook subtle yet impactful issues. Objective and instantaneous measures of cognitive workloads provide a solution to this shortcoming. Our previous research has established the reliability of maximum pupil dilation, measured with Tobii Pro Nano, as a preeminent indicator of cognitive workload surges in mobile application users. In this study, we used this measure to locate user cognitive workload peaks while using Conflict Solver and discovered subtle user interface issues that were not reported in the post-usability interview. A total of 30 participants completed a Conflict Solver usability experiment with two phases. In phase 1, the participants performed two “Add a Term” tasks on the original Conflict Solver, followed by a semi-structured interview about their experience with the application. A few subtle usability issues with a drop-down menu were detected through identifying user cognitive workload peaks. In phase 2, the same participants completed the same tasks on Conflict Solver with a redesigned and extended drop-down menu. The results showed that the new design solved the usability issues, and the participants became more favor the drop-down menu over the input box. In conclusion, including maximum pupil dilation into the usability assessment toolkit would provide a more objective and comprehensive usability assessment of a smartphone application. It can also be used to verify the successfulness of a user interface design solution.</p

Additional file 1: of MicrO: an ontology of phenotypic and metabolic characters, assays, and culture media found in prokaryotic taxonomic descriptions

Supplemental Figures (Figures S1-S6) and Tables (Tables S1 and S2). (DOCX 1785 kb

Forest plots (random effect model) of meta-analysis on the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth by exposure location.

<p>Squares indicate study-specific risk estimates (size of the square reflects the study-specific statistical weight); horizontal lines indicate 95% CIs; diamond indicates the summary risk estimate with its 95% CI.</p

Forest plots (random effect model) of meta-analysis on the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth by study design.

<p>Squares indicate study-specific risk estimates (size of the square reflects the study-specific statistical weight); horizontal lines indicate 95% CIs; diamond indicates the summary risk estimate with its 95% CI.</p

Funnel plot corresponding to the random-effects meta-analysis of the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth.

<p>Funnel plot corresponding to the random-effects meta-analysis of the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth.</p

Sensitivity plot corresponding to the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth.

<p>Sensitivity plot corresponding to the relationship between passive maternal smoking and preterm birth.</p

Hippocampus brain injury HE staining result (400×).

<p>A, control group; B, hypoxic 1d; C, hypoxic 3d; D, ischemia+hypoxic 1d; E, ischemia+hypoxic 3d. </p

The HE stains result of injury of hippocampus in 21d neonate rat (400×).

<p>A, control group; B, hypoxic group; C, ischemia+hypoxic group.</p

HE staining result of brain injury around lateral ventricle (400×).

<p>A, control group; B, hypoxic 1d; C, hypoxic 3d; D, ischemia+hypoxic 1d; E, ischemia+hypoxic 3d.</p

Neural cell apoptosis testing by TUNEL, much more TUNEL positive cells were observed in hypoxic and ischemic+hypoxic group than the controls (400×).

<p>A, control group; B, hypoxic 1d; C, ischemia+hypoxic 1d.</p