As patient-centered care grows, generative-AI conversational agents—unconstrained by time or location—offer novel telecare interactions. This study examined how text dialogue methods (task-led vs. social-led) and prompt cues (none, progress bar, text) affect Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Confirmation (CON), Satisfaction (SAT), and Usage Intention (UI). Sixty participants took part in a 2 × 3 between-subjects experiment; data were analyzed via two-way ANOVA. Key findings: (1) Social-led text dialogues enhance PU and PEOU. (2) Progress bar cues boost expectation, SAT, and UI. (3) Text cues improve TAM (PEOU, PU) and ECM (CON) perceptions. (4) Interaction effects: without cues or with a progress bar, task-led dialogues yield higher PEOU and PU than social-led; when text prompts are present, social-led dialogues receive higher ratings. The results of this study provide a reference for the design and development of dialogue cues in telecare dialogue agents.

With rising AI doctor agents in online consultations, effective visual feedback design is crucial. This study used a 3 × 3 mixed factorial design (three text-loading animations and three content-generation types) with 60 participants. We measured time perception (sense duration, waiting-time sensation), emotional experience (pleasure, arousal), and satisfaction. Results showed: loading icons with richer, dynamic visuals improved perception and experience; bar-gradient animations were preferred over circular icons; animated delays signaled “thinking,” enhancing emotional engagement, while instant content felt mechanical; under loop and bar animations, gradual content yielded the highest pleasure and arousal, then deferred, then instant; but with single-dot loading, instant content produced the highest pleasure and arousal, then deferred, then gradual. These insights inform design of medical conversational agents and HCI theory.

Exploring and validating factors that may influence the trustworthiness of social robots is of great significance to improving the effect of human-robot interaction. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of several design factors on people’s perceptions of the trustworthiness of social robots. The research variables were social cues (ie, watching-eyes configuration, control configuration, and neutral configuration), head shape (ie, round head and rectangular head), body proportion (ie, low body proportion and high body proportion), and participant’s gender (ie, male and female). Twelve static synthetic social robots were created and presented to the participants as digital pictures. A total of 175 participants took part in the experiment through the online survey via the convenience sampling method. The generated results were as follows: (1) The robots with round heads appear to be more trustworthy than those with rectangular heads. (2) Robots with high body proportion are considered to be more trustworthy than robots with low body proportion. (3) Minimal social cues and body proportion of robots also have a significant interaction effect on improving the trustworthiness of robots. In the watching-eyes configuration, high body proportion is considered more trustworthy than low body proportion. On one hand, the results of this study can provide a good reference for the appearance form of social robots in human-robot interaction to serve human beings, and on the other hand, it also lays a foundation for further exploring the influence of social cues elicited by a series of social robot appearances and social behaviors regarding the trustworthiness of social robots.

There is already a consensus among central banks to accelerate the development of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). To facilitate a smooth money transfer process, the interactive experience of the CBDC user interface design is very important. However, much of the current research has focused on the technical feasibility of the CBDCs, and no scientific research has yet attempted to design an effective CBDC user interface. In this study, a series of CBDC user interfaces were designed to help study the interaction process of CBDCs in a simulated payment transaction context with a focus on the user interface and interactive experience of the CBDCs. The experiment in this study was a 2 (graphical metaphor) × 3 (gesture type) × 2 (visual feedback) mixed factorial design in which a total of 12 CBDC prototypes were created and evaluated based on users’ task performance and a series of subjective evaluations. The results of our empirical study revealed that graphical metaphor user interface design can improve the interface usability and subjective evaluation of CBDCs, and may also trigger the user’s sense of experience with traditional banknotes. Specifically, the use of animated cues for currency movement on the CBDC user interface may help evoke the user’s experience of using cash. In addition, we found that the wave type gesture may cause users to spend more time completing the CBDC operational tasks. Moreover, the animated cue of money moving may have faster performance and a higher degree of rationality. The above-mentioned results may provide an important design reference for CBDC developers to create easy-to-use CBDC services.

There is an increasing use of mobile devices to view maps for wayfinding purposes. However, viewing maps on a small screen often creates difficulties for users. Two possible solutions to this problem are dynamic peephole interfaces and visual cues to off-screen targets. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of visual cue design and response time on users’ wayfinding performance with a dynamic peephole interface on a mobile device. Both 1 s and 3 s response times were examined. Three different visual cue designs, i.e., the dot, short-line, and border-line, were adopted. The experiment was a 2 × 3 between-subjects design. Sixty participants were invited to complete four wayfinding tasks and subjective preference questionnaires. The NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire was also adopted. The results revealed that: (i) Visual cues with different response times can affect users’ wayfinding performance; (ii) When planning a route, the border-line visual cues exhibited better outcomes with the 1-s response time; (iii) When users distinguished the order of the targets, the 3-s response time had better user performance than 1 s; and (iv) Participants perceived lower physical demand with the border-line visual cue design.

Abstract This study aims to improve users’ positive experiences in wayfinding in virtual environments through empirical research on the influence of different designs of landmarks on overview maps. The experiment adopted a four (landmark) x two (gender) between-subjects design. Landmarks with symbols, symbols and images, symbols and text, and symbols, images and text were examined. Fifty-six participants were invited to complete three wayfinding tasks and fill out questionnaires. The generated results indicated that: (1) Landmark presentation styles significantly affect wayfinding performance on overview maps in virtual environments. (2) Concerning subjective rationality, system usability and perceived usefulness, the use of text in landmark design can significantly improve users’ evaluations of overview maps. (3) In terms of gender, females’ system usability evaluations and subjective intentions of using overview map with landmarks are significantly more positive than males’.

Recent applications on mobile devices have increased the dependence of the user on visual feedback for effective interaction with the interface. When loading an application, a user may encounter a long wait time which is generally inevitable and is viewed as the primary negative emotion sources from the user interface. This study conducted a 2 × 3 mixed factorial design to explore whether different feedback types of wait indicators (i.e. bar and cartoon-bar designs) and feedback velocities (i.e. constant, accelerate, and decelerate progress speeds) may affect user’s time perception and wait evaluations. Twenty-four young adults participated in this study. The experimental data were collected through a time estimation and a 7-point Likert scale. The generated results revealed that: (i) Participants’ time estimation could be shortened when they encountered the ‘decelerate’ progress speed. (ii) Participants’ time estimation and perceived speed might not always be consistent. (iii) The feedback type of ‘cartoon-bar’ might not significantly reduce participants’ time perception. Nonetheless, the ‘cartoon-bar’ type significantly improve participants’ wait evaluations. (iv) The feedback progress speeds positively correlated with wait evaluations by participants. The visual feedback designs affect the user’s time estimation and wait evaluations. The progress bar with lovely elements can improve user’s wait experiences. The progress speed of ‘decelerate’ can reduce the user’s time estimation. User’s time estimation and perceived speed might not always be consistent. User’s perceived speed positively correlated with their wait evaluations.