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International Conference on Human Factors in Computing and Informatics

SouthCHI 2013: Human Factors in Computing and Informatics pp 194–211Cite as

Practical Neurophysiological Analysis of Readability as a Usability Dimension

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNPSE,volume 7946)

Abstract

This paper discusses opportunities and feasibility of integrating neurophysiologic analysis methods, based on electroencephalography (EEG), in the current landscape of usability evaluation methods. The rapid evolution and growing availability of low-cost, easier to use devices and the accumulated knowledge in feature extraction and processing algorithms allow us to foresee the practicality of this integration.

The work presented in this paper is focused on reading and readability, identified as a key element of usability heuristics, and observable in the neurophysiologic signals’ space. The experiments are primarily designed to address the discrimination of the reading activity (silent, attentive and continuous) and the verification of decreasing readability, associated with the user’s mental workload analysis. The results obtained in the series of experiments demonstrate the validity of the approach for each individual user, and raise the problem of inter-subject variability and the need for designing appropriate calibration procedures for different users.

Keywords

  • Usability analysis
  • neurophysiologic signals
  • EEG

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SITILabs, Lusófona University, Portugal

    Inês Isabel Pimentel Oliveira

  2. LaSIGE/ISCTE-IUL, University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal

    Nuno Manuel Guimarães

Authors
  1. Inês Isabel Pimentel Oliveira
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  2. Nuno Manuel Guimarães
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation (IMI), Medical University Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 2/V, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Andreas Holzinger

  2. Human-Computer Interaction Center, RWTH Aachen University, Theaterplatz 14, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Martina Ziefle

  3. Institute of Informatics Systems, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Universitätsstrasse 65-67, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Martin Hitz

  4. Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000, Maribor, Slovenia

    Matjaž Debevc

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Oliveira, I.I.P., Guimarães, N.M. (2013). Practical Neurophysiological Analysis of Readability as a Usability Dimension. In: Holzinger, A., Ziefle, M., Hitz, M., Debevc, M. (eds) Human Factors in Computing and Informatics. SouthCHI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7946. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39062-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39061-6

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