Determinants of task performance in a visual decision-making process

When engaging in a visual-aided task, decision making becomes a multifaceted process that includes the factors usability, visual design aesthetics, emotion and cognitive load. We develop and test a decision-making model by measuring usability, visual design aesthetics, emotion and cognitive load within a structural equation model (SEM). This research model is the first to combine these constructs to study the relationships between usability, design aesthetics, emotion and cognitive load as they relate to post-task confidence and task performance. Results show that usability, visual design, emotion and cognitive load significantly affect the user's post-decision confidence and performance. The implications are that well-designed visuals added to a decision-making process model induce positive effects, because cognitive efficiency increases resulting in enhanced task confidence and performance.