003Effect
Cognitive Drift
The experience of losing attention, or your mind 'wandering'.
Why it matters
People will typically experience Cognitive Drift if more than one second elapses between interacting with technology, and seeing something change on screen.
It's thought that if 10 seconds pass, that user's mind is elsewhere entirely .
(Theorised by Stephen J. Dubner, and Steven Levitt) .
Conversion rates:
• They may lose interest entirely.
Input quality:
• Due to a lack of interest, they may still complete the process, but not bother entering full (or accurate) information. • e.g., they may not have bothered selecting all of their 'interested topics', and just picked one.
Attention & interest
Effort & motivation
What to inspect
- Check whether the experience reflects this: They may lose interest entirely.
- Check whether the experience reflects this: Due to a lack of interest, they may still complete the process, but not bother entering full (or accurate) information.
- Check whether the experience reflects this: It's thought that if 10 seconds pass, that user's mind is elsewhere entirely .
Common anti-patterns
- Assuming users consciously notice every place where "The experience of losing attention, or your mind 'wandering'" could apply.
- Dense copy and parallel actions that increase mental effort unrelated to the user’s goal.
- Ignoring downstream effects on conversion rates when shipping this pattern.
Critique prompts
- They may lose interest entirely.
- Due to a lack of interest, they may still complete the process, but not bother entering full (or accurate) information.
- It's thought that if 10 seconds pass, that user's mind is elsewhere entirely .
- Where on this screen would "Cognitive Drift" show up as friction or misunderstanding?
- What would a first-time user misunderstand here in under five seconds?