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CHAPTER 50
Does User Frustration
Really Decrease Task
Performance?
Gloria Washington, Ph.D.
The MITRE Corporation
Washington, DC USA
gwashington@mitre.org
1 ABSTRACT
It is a natural assumption in research devoted to human-computer interactions
that user frustration has a negative impact on task performance. This assumption
stems from the very nature of the emotion frustration. Frustration occurs when a
user is blocked or impeded from completing a goal or task. The intensity or amount
of frustration varies according to how important the goal is to the user. However, is
this assumption true for all amounts of user frustration experienced by a user in
human-computer interactions?
The objective of this research is to determine ...