Studying the Effect of Human Cognition on User Authentication Tasks

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of individual differences in human cognition on user performance in authentication tasks. In particular, a text-based password and a recognition-based graphical authentication mechanism were deployed in the frame of an ecological valid experimental design, to investigate the effect of individuals’ different cognitive processing abilities toward efficiency and effectiveness of user authentication tasks. A total of 107 users participated in the reported study during a three-month period between September and November 2012. The results of this recent study can be interpreted under the light of human information processing as they demonstrate a main effect of users’ cognitive processing abilities on both efficiency and effectiveness related to authentication mechanisms. The main findings can be considered valuable for future deployment of adaptive security mechanisms since it has been initially shown that specific cognitive characteristics of users could be a determinant factor for the adaptation of security mechanisms.