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Ambient Persuasive Technology Needs Little Cognitive Effort: The Differential Effects of Cognitive Load on Lighting Feedback versus Factual Feedback

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Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2010)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 6137))

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Abstract

Persuasive technology can influence behavior or attitudes by for example providing interactive factual feedback about energy conservation. However, people often lack motivation or cognitive capacity to consciously process such relative complex information (e.g., numerical consumption feedback). Extending recent research that indicates that ambient persuasive technology can persuade the user without receiving the user’s conscious attention, we argue here that Ambient Persuasive Technology can be effective while needing only little cognitive resources, and in general can be more influential than more focal forms of persuasive technology. In an experimental study, some participants received energy consumption feedback by means of a light changing color (more green=lower energy consumption, vs. more red=higher energy consumption) and others by means of numbers indicating kWh consumption. Results indicated that ambient feedback led to more conservation than factual feedback. Also, as expected, only for participants processing factual feedback, additional cognitive load lead to slower processing of that feedback. This research sheds light on fundamental characteristics of Ambient Persuasive Technology and Persuasive Lighting, and suggests that it can have important advantages over more focal persuasive technologies without losing its persuasive potential.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human-Technology Interaction, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600, MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Jaap Ham & Cees Midden

Authors
  1. Jaap Ham
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  2. Cees Midden
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Communication, Copenhagen Institute of Technology/Aalborg University, Lautrupvang 2b, 2750, Ballerup, Denmark

    Thomas Ploug

  2. Royal School of Library and Information Science, Birketinget 6, 2300, København, Denmark

    Per Hasle

  3. Dept. of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Rakentajantie 3, 90370, Oulu, Finland

    Harri Oinas-Kukkonen

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Ham, J., Midden, C. (2010). Ambient Persuasive Technology Needs Little Cognitive Effort: The Differential Effects of Cognitive Load on Lighting Feedback versus Factual Feedback. In: Ploug, T., Hasle, P., Oinas-Kukkonen, H. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6137. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13226-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13226-1_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-13225-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-13226-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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