Focus Magazine - Summer 2016 - (Page 17)

NEUROSCIENCE Merrill Collier The Science of User Experience "Out of clutter, find simplicity." Albert Einstein W hat's at the core of all experiences? Whether it's human-to-human or human-to-technology, success is measured by the quality of the interaction. ink of this in the context of a dialogue between what you are oﬀering and the listener. When someone pulls you into a conversation, how do you feel when it is interesting and easy? Now, if the conversation were boring and complicated, wouldn't you excuse yourself and leave? We don't want our customers to turn to someone else more engaging. NeuroHedonics Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University professor of psychology, Nobel Prize winner and expert on hedonic psychology, found what people remember most about an experience is two parts: e peak, when the feeling was most intense, and the end, i.e., the most "recent" memory (in some cases, they can be the same moment). If they are pleasant, the overall experience is remembered as positive. But if acutely painful at any point, the memory of the overall experience is bad. Kahneman postulated the driving reason to be two diﬀerent "selves," the "experiencing self " and the "remembering self." He believed they are fundamentally diﬀerent, and confusion exists between the actual experience and the final memory. Most "experiencing self " moments don't leave a trace, and are completely ignored by the remembering self. For example, you can be happy in your life, but may not remember being happy about or with your life. Kahneman illustrated this with a simple anecdote of someone who listened to a lovely symphony, yet at the end heard a terrible screeching sound. e listener was angry, and believed the screech ruined his experience. Now, Kahneman points out that, regardless, the listener enjoyed 20 minutes of blissful music. However, the ending ruined his memory of the experience. Hedonomics, derived by Peter Hancock and colleagues, is a branch of science devoted to the promotion of pleasurable human-technology interaction. Since the early introduction of soware platforms, user interfaces have appealed to the neocortex's practical needs for functionality and eﬃciency. But, we can't ignore the emotional limbic system, which can easily and oen override the neocortex's rationality. As technology becomes more complex, the focus on human-centered experiences becomes more crucial to the perception of a positive user experience. Edward Tue, a pioneer in information design, spoke to the importance of accepting architectural accountability when he wrote that confusion and clutter are the failure of design, not the attributes of information. NeuroUX Indeed, there are behavioral science-based reasons that call out the importance of systematically ensuring a positive user experience. What about business reasons? Simply put, user acceptance and adoption are mission critical. Projects fail without happy users. User experience has a long history of building brands (think Amazon and Google) and increasing revenue. A Forrester research study indicated 93 percent of executives think that improving the user experience is a top strategic priority. Shouldn't we? ■ Merrill Collier is a senior director of life sciences and health care at Bluewater. This article expresses the personal perspectives of the author. Merrill Collier can be reached at merrillcollier@bluewaterlearning.com FOCUS | SUMMER 2016 | www.L-TEN.org 17 http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Summer 2016

Focus Magazine
From the President: Training, Leaders & Collaboration
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: LTEN: What's in a Legacy?
Directions: Celebrating 45 Years of Enthusiasm
Front of the Room: Calling Audibles
Neuroscience: The Science of User Experience
LTEN at 45: Community, Clarity and Careers
How to Train the 'Creepy' Out of Closing
Creating the Value Proposition for Mentoring
Creating the Next Generation of Life Sciences Learning
The Power of Quiet: Debunking the Myths
Mobile-Friendly vs. Mobile-First
What Kid's Soccer Teaches You About Selling
Virtual How: Instructor-Led Virtual Classrooms
Ad Index
Focus Contacts
5 Questions with DJ Mitsch

Focus Magazine - Summer 2016