SaTC: CORE: Small: The Blurring of Non-essential Notifications and Critical Security Warnings: Examining the Problem of Generalization in the Brain

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This project measures how decreased attention to frequent software notifications negatively influences peoples' responses to uncommon security warnings that are truly critical. The researchers will use eye tracking equipment to examine this problem by measuring attention to notifications and warnings through eye gaze patterns, and individuals' decisions in response to these messages. They will observe how changes occur in the context of a single computing device, such as a laptop computer, as well as diminished attention across devices, such as how frequent notifications on a mobile device affect people's responses to uncommon security warnings on a desktop computer.Through a series of laboratory experiments using eye tracking and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) technologies, the researchers will examine the conditions under which habituation to frequent software notifications generalizes, or carries over, to uncommon security warnings. These conditions include the similarity of visual appearance and mode of interaction (i.e., look and feel) between notifications and warnings, the volume of notifications, and whether these factors cause generalization to occur across devices. They also examine how people behaviorally respond successfully to security warnings by adhering to the warning recommendations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.