Evaluation of Matching Degree Between Touch Gestures and User Mental Model Based on Event-Related Potential

Abstract

Designing gestures in multi-touch devices that are congruent with User Mental Model (UMM) is vital to remove the cognitive gulf, and reduce learning cost for users. In this study, a neurophysiological evaluation method-Event-Related Potential was used to evaluate matching degree between touch gestures and UMM. Prime-probe paradigm was employed and two experimental conditions were compared-congruence and incongruence. Results show that negative component was elicited within the time window of 300 ms to 500 ms after the onset of probe stimuli in frontal, central and parietal lobe. With time went by, more negative components were found in the incongruence condition. Hereby, the former negative component is interpreted as a representation of the decoding process, and the later one interpreted as semantic matching with UMM. Results in this study may provide guidance for those assessing the usability of multi-touch gestures.