Using Psychophysiological Techniques to Evaluate User Experience of Touchscreen Protectors

Since touchscreens were introduced into mobile devices, interaction directly on the touchscreen replaced interaction with the keyboard. In order to protect touchscreens and improve user experience, touchscreen protectors are widely used. This study selected three different designs of touchscreen protectors with three different levels of friction, and a touchscreen without a protector as a control group. The experiment was divided into two tasks, namely the moving task (including horizontal movement and vertical movement) and the circling tasks (including clockwise movement and counter-clockwise movement). User experience was measured through performance, questionnaires and psychophysiological techniques including electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG) measurements. Results reflected that a touchscreen without a protector was most suitable for gesture control to improve performance. Among various types of protectors, the protector with the same friction as a touchscreen, was more suitable to improve performance. Results suggested that protectors with excessive or too little friction cannot improve performance.