User Interaction: Experienced vs Remembered

Applying theory and research from Psychology and Behavioral Economics on the distinction between experiencing and remembering self to HCI practice.

Your memory of an experience may not match the experience itself as you lived it. What constitutes a positive or negative user experience (as measured by observation or usability evaluations, for example) does not necessarily translate to a corresponding positive or negative memory of that experience (as captured by surveys or other forms of retrospective assessment). This session describes selected research in Psychology and Behavioral Economics relevant to the differential factors affecting how individuals experience their interactions, vs how they remember them. It also discusses how those two facets of an experience are relevant to different aspects of a product's lifecycle.