The Psychology of Time Perception in HCI

1. InfoCamp 2009 The Psychology of Time Perception in HCI Steve Seow | User Researcher | Microsoft Surface

2. About Steve… • Academic: Experimental Psychology • Human Timing, Time Perception • Human-Computer Interaction • Professional: User Researcher • Visual Studio (Visual Basic) • Microsoft Surface • Spare time: Author • Designing and Engineering Time • Software Personality Disorders (writing)

3. The Barnabus Effect… Clip 1

4. The Barnabus Effect… Clip 2

5. The Barnabus Effect… • WYSMNBWYG: • What you see may not be what you get! • 2. Your brain plays tricks on you all the time! • … so don’t trust your brain! • Scholarly note: Look up Attenuation Hypothesis

6. Bank Customer: “Service is too slow!” Q: How can we make our service faster? A: Hire more tellers, streamline transaction, etc. Q: How can we make our service appear faster? A: Keep the lines moving, fill-out paper work, etc. Q: How can our service be made more tolerable? A: Install television along waiting lines, promise valuable service, use ticket system, etc.

7. Case Study: Disney Theme Parks Objective: Make waiting in line shorter Solution: FastPass

8. Case Study: Disney Theme Parks Objective: Make waiting in line seem shorter Solution: Diversion during wait

9. Case Study: Disney Theme Parks Objective: Make waiting in line more tolerable Solution: Provide Information

10. “Operational Management” Most compelling and tangible, but expensive.. User: “Download is too slow!” Q: How can we make the download faster? A: Better compression, faster connection, smaller file size, etc. “Perception management”. Inexpensive, effective for mainstream usage context. Q: How can we make the download appear faster? A: Provide progress indication, diversion, etc. Q: How can the download more tolerable? “Tolerance management”. Best remedy when perception is rigid. Inexpensive. A: Offer completion notification, provide “emergency exits”, etc.

11. (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

12. perlcepltion

13. perlcepltion what the brain does with the information it receives from the senses.

15. What does this symbol mean? ... to a child? ... to a diner? ... to a soldier? ... to a Wiccan?

17. Real versus Perceived Actual Duration Perceived Duration VERIDICAL TECHNIQUE Perceived Duration UNDERESTIMATION Perceived Duration OVERESTIMATION VIOLATION

18. Perceptual Technique Invisible Deconstruction (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

19. Perceptual Technique Meaningful Diversion (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

20. Perceptual Violation Captive to the Wait (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

21. Recap: Perception • 1. Distinction from Reality • Objective Duration : Clock • Perceived Duration : Human internal clock • 2. Perception = Reality • No need to question if perception=reality • Practical Reality • 3. Clocks Don’t Judge! • Don’t tell if something is good/bad, fast/slow, etc. • A clock just tells time. • Which brings us to the next topic … Perceived or Actual? Actual:objectively measured “It took 9 min and 20 seconds” Perceived:subjectively measured or estimated “It was about 10 minutes”

22. tollerlance

23. tollerlance the maximum degree of something we are willing to experience in order to attain something.

24. The mangosteen fruit was the size of a golf ball! …. so what? Is it big, small, unusual, etc.

25. “The download took about 5 minutes…” … it only took 3 minutes yesterday. The download is slow! … and it’s only 1 MB! The download is too slow! … it used to take over an hour. This broadband stuff is great!

26. Tolerance vs Perceived Duration Perceived Duration* VIOLATION Tolerance Tolerance INTOLERABLE Tolerance TOLERABLE TECHNIQUE * = or Actual Duration

27. Maister’s First Law of Service • satisfaction is a function of disconfirmation, or the difference between what was perceived and what was expected. Satisfaction = (Experienced – Expected) Satisfaction = (Perception – Tolerance)

28. Tolerance Technique The Priceline Model (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

29. Tolerance Technique Contextualized Benchmark (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

30. Tolerance Violation Loop Confirmation (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

31. Tolerance Violation Perpetual Ending (from Designing and Engineering Time, www.EngineeringTime.com)

32. Recap: Tolerance • 1. Tolerance Threshold = Mental Benchmark • 2. Tolerance is highly volatile/malleable • easily influenced by various factors: • prior experiences, attempts, exposure • explicit standard/metric, benchmarks • comparative reference (similar experience) • culture, context (time of day, relation to other matters) • reputation, brand name, trends, fads, bias, spite. • expectation of responsiveness

33. Concluding “Words of Wisdom” Time = Precious Commodity. Uncertainty = Biggest Poison. Information = Powerful Antidote.

34. Thank you! • More Info? • Steve - SSeow@Microsoft.com • Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/time • Book - Designing and Engineering Time • Web - www.Engineering Time.com • Free Handout: UI Timing Cheatsheet • Mangosteens: