The cognitive costs of upgrades

Abstract

Upgrades are a common experience for people who use technology for any length of time. Upgrades may bring clear benefits, and some users look forward to new versions of software. However for others, upgrades may be a burden. Upgrades bring costs, imposing a need to refa-miliarize ourselves with a new version after mastering the old one. It is important to understand such costs as failure to upgrade can make users vulnerable to security risks. We first review multiple studies showing users’ dislike of upgrades resulting from changes introduced to the interface. Then we propose a framework to analyze the nature of upgrade costs, explaining their origins using well-validated cognitive psychology concepts including: cognitive automation, negative transfer, cognitive maps, procedural memory and locus of control. We use these concepts to explain the psychological costs of frequent interface changes while sketching some approaches to addressing them. Although new versions are necessary for progress, this paper provides software developers with a deeper understanding of the sometimes overlooked costs of frequent interface changes.