Effects of human cognitive differences on interaction and visual behavior in graphical user authentication

Abstract

This paper discusses two user studies to investigate whether human cognitive differences affect user interaction and visual behavior within recognition-based graphical authentication tasks. In order to increase external validity, we conducted the studies with separate user samples. In the first study (N=82) which embraced a longitudinal and ecological valid interaction scenario, we examined whether field dependence-independence (FD-I) differences have an effect on their login performance. During the second study (N=51) which embraced an in-lab eye tracking setup, we investigated whether FD-I differences of participants are reflected on their visual behavior during graphical key creation. Analysis of results revealed interaction effects of users’ FD-I differences which indicate that such human cognitive differences should be considered as additional human design factors in graphical user authentication research.