Designing for Emotional Memory: Affective User Interfaces for Learning

Abstract

The majority of studies related to the area of ‘emotional design’ for learning interfaces are focused on the impact of an interface's emotional aspects on retaining student information. The consensus is generally that there should be an element of engagement with the learning experience; however, relatively few studies have investigated the effect of emotional tone on students' ability to remember (recall) information from those experiences. This study attempts to fill this void in research by developing various interfaces according to a design-and-emotion approach that vary in terms of their emotional tone and are tested through controlled experiments. The researchers conducted a mixed-methods experimental study, comparing an emotionally-tuned interface with a baseline affect-neutral interface among 40 randomly assigned users. Participants completed a learning task and subsequently underwent recall and recognition tests to measure their memory retention. Quantitative results demonstrated that the emotionally-tuned interface significantly improved users' recall and recognition abilities and yielded a more positive user experience. Additionally, qualitative feedback from short post-task interviews revealed insights into users' perceptions of the emotional tone of each interface, further underscoring the effectiveness of emotionally-tuned interfaces in enhancing learning outcomes.

Keywords: Emotional design, User experience, Memory performance, Educational interfaces, Affective UX

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007263