Noémie Beauchemin’s research while affiliated with HEC Montréal and other places

Computer-based learning has gained popularity in recent years, providing learners greater flexibility and freedom. However, these learning environments do not consider the learner’s mental state in real-time, resulting in less optimized learning experiences. This research aimed to explore the effect on the learning experience of a novel EEG-based Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) that adjusts the speed of information presentation in real-time during a learning task according to the learner’s cognitive load. We also explored how motivation moderated these effects. In accordance with three experimental groups (non-adaptive, adaptive, and adaptive with motivation), participants performed a calibration task (n-back), followed by a memory-based learning task concerning astrological constellations. Learning gains were assessed based on performance on the learning task. Self-perceived mental workload, cognitive absorption and satisfaction were assessed using a post-test questionnaire. Between-group analyses using Mann–Whitney tests suggested that combining BCI and motivational factors led to more significant learning gains and an improved learning experience. No significant difference existed between the BCI without motivational factor and regular non-adaptive interface for overall learning gains, self-perceived mental workload, and cognitive absorption. However, participants who undertook the experiment with an imposed learning pace reported higher overall satisfaction with their learning experience and a higher level of temporal stress. Our findings suggest BCI’s potential applicability and feasibility in improving memorization-based learning experiences. Further work should seek to optimize the BCI adaptive index and explore generalizability to other learning contexts.

Personalized product recommendations are widely used by online retailers to combat choice overload, a phenomenon where excessive product information adversely increases the cognitive workload of the consumer, thereby degrading their decision quality and shopping experience. However, scientific evidence on the benefits of personalized recommendations remains inconsistent, giving rise to the idea that their effects may be muted unless the consumer is actually experiencing choice overload. The ability to test this idea is thus an important goal for marketing researchers, but challenging to achieve using conventional approaches. To overcome this challenge, the present study followed a design science approach while leveraging cognitive neuroscience to develop a real-time neuro-adaptive interface for e-commerce tasks. The function of the neuro-adaptive interface was to induce choice overload and permit comparisons of cognitive load and decision quality associated with personalized recommendations, which were presented according to the following three conditions: (a) not presented (control), (b) perpetually presented, or (c) presented only when a real-time neurophysiological index indicated that cognitive workload was high. Formative testing cycles produced a neuro-adaptive system in which the personalization of recommendations and neuro-adaptivity function as intended. The artifact is now ready for use in summative testing regarding the effects of personalized recommendations on cognitive workload and decision quality.KeywordsNeuro-adaptive interfacedigital technologiese-commercechoice overloadcognitive loaddecision-makingdesign science