Abstract:

This research investigated the impacts of search task complexity on users’ emotions. We created three tasks for the experiment based on Li’s objective complexity and collected emotional data with the Geneva Appraisal Questionnaire. The results show that the participants’ subjective perception of the search tasks were consistent with their objective complexity. Different or even opposite emotional components coexisted in all tasks, but as the complexity increased, the emotion valence became negative from positive gradually, and the variety of the dominating emtions increased. Significant influences of task complexity can be found on emotion intensity and emotion duration.

Key words: Search tasks, Task complexity, Emotional components, Emotional experience