Evaluation of User Experience, Cognitive Load, and Training Performance of a Gamified Cognitive Training Application for Children With Learning Disabilities

Adel Shaban,Victor Chang,Elaine Pearson

doi:10.3389/fcomp.2021.617056

Adel Shaban, Victor Chang + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2021.617056

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Abstract

This study presents a gamified application for children with learning disabilities, designed to train and improve their working memory capacity. The application takes the form of a treasure hunt and is designed according to a framework incorporating a set of guidelines derived from accessibility, usability, and cognitive load theory principles, and from gamification techniques. The aim is to motivate and engage the children in working memory-training activities and exploit their working memory capacity. The main focus of this study is the evaluation of the cognitive load level induced by the application, the children’s perceived experience, and their training performance over the training period. A sample of 12 Egyptian children with learning disabilities completed a five-week training period using the application, followed by an evaluation process. The evaluation took the form of a simple usability survey, an unstructured observation, and a cognitive load measurement scale. The purpose was to evaluate the children’s perceived experience, assess the level of cognitive load experienced in each of the activities, and measure the expected improvement in the children’s training performance. The results revealed that all the children enjoyed playing the gamified application, were eager to participate in the daily training, and the cognitive load experienced during the training was found to be generally appropriate, although some areas for improvement were identified. Finally, the children’s training performance and their perceived experience were better in the gamified activities with a lower cognitive load level.

Highlights

User experience (UX) as one of the concepts of human–computer interaction (HCI) and its evaluation in the games developed for children have become recently an interesting topic for many researchers (Rico-Olarte et al, 2017)
It is obvious that the majority of children (86.5%) perceived a good experience with the gamified application compared to only 5% did not perceive that
Evaluation of the children’s experience, the children’s training performance, and the cognitive load level of a gamified working memory application was the main focus of this study

Summary

Introduction

User experience (UX) as one of the concepts of human–computer interaction (HCI) and its evaluation in the games developed for children have become recently an interesting topic for many researchers (Rico-Olarte et al, 2017). A clear example of those individuals with a deficiency in working memory capacity is children with learning disabilities (Swanson and Siegel, 2001; Maehler and Schuchardt, 2016) These children often have a lower level of motivation (Zisimopoulos and Galanaki, 2009; Saputra, 2015); they can be supported using three approaches: training their limited working memory capacity (MacCormack and Matheson, 2015), developing effective learning environments that minimize the cognitive overload that might hamper learning (MacCormack and Matheson, 2015), or designing engaging and motivational gamified applications (Saputra, 2015). The challenge in designing such applications is to consider the needs of this group of children (e.g., less demanding tasks), motivation (e.g., embedding appropriate game elements and improving their experience with the application), and the cognitive characteristics (e.g., limited working memory capacity) (Cooper, 1998; Ottersen and Grill, 2015)

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