The Impact of Interface Design Element Features on Task Performance in Older Adults: Evidence from Eye-Tracking and EEG Signals

Chengmin Zhou; Fangfang Yuan; Ting Huang; Yurong Zhang; Jake Kaner

doi:10.3390/ijerph19159251

The Impact of Interface Design Element Features on Task Performance in Older Adults: Evidence from Eye-Tracking and EEG Signals

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 28;19(15):9251. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159251.

Authors

Chengmin Zhou^{1

2}, Fangfang Yuan^{1

2}, Ting Huang^{1

2}, Yurong Zhang^{1

2}, Jake Kaner³

Affiliations

¹ College of Furnishings and Industrial Design, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.
² Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing 210037, China.
³ Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK.

Abstract

It is crucial that the interface design of mobile apps be age-appropriate at this stage of global aging, as the new epidemic has resulted in a higher sense of isolation among older persons. In this study, four typical senior social service mobile applications were chosen to give older persons the ability to complete user login duties. The participants were 16 older adults (7 men and 9 women) aged 55 to 76. Both objective and subjective data, including task completion time, gaze length, pupil diameter changes, EEG wave amplitude changes, and subjective sensations of older persons, were gathered using a combination of eye-movement and EEG signal approaches. The program was created to investigate the effects of interface design aspects on older people's task performance, including interface layout, interface color, information density, icon size and position, etc. The study's findings revealed that when the user task completion time and average fixation duration were shorter, the line of sight was more equally distributed, the visual focus was closer to the login button, and the average EEG amplitude of the user changed more, the older adults performed better. The palace layout had a more positive effect on job completion among older individuals when it came to interface layout. In terms of interface color, colored (contrasting) colors should serve to highlight the interface's essential information points while they can be removed. In terms of interface information density, a low-density level interface design can simplify and lower the cognitive load of task execution for older people. The first level of icons in the interface and their position in the visual center of the interface is the best interface design for older persons in terms of icon size and position. The results of this study have theoretical ramifications for a thorough understanding of the factors influencing older people's task performance, practical ramifications for the design of older people-centered interfaces, and they contribute to our understanding of the characteristics of older people's interface interaction behavior.

Keywords: EEG signals; design element features; eye tracking; interface design; older persons; user experience.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Eye Movements
Eye-Tracking Technology*
Female
Humans
Male
Task Performance and Analysis*
User-Computer Interface

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFD0601104), and part of it was supported by the 2022 Jiangsu Postgraduate “International Smart Health Furniture Design and Engineering” project, and a project from International Cooperation Joint Laboratory for Production, Education, Research and Application of Ecological Health Care on Home Furnishing.