Cognitive Integration of Delays: Anticipated System Delays Slow Down User Actions

There are inevitably delays between user actions and system responses, which can increase task completion times. However, it remains unclear whether this is solely due to waiting times and compensation strategies, or whether users further slow down their actions because these delays become integrated into their cognitive action structures, as suggested by cognitive psychological theories. To explore this, we examined the effects of repeated exposure to delays during point-and-click tasks. Our findings demonstrate that longer system response delays significantly slow down users’ actions, even before they experience the delayed feedback from the current input. This suggests that the user’s cognitive system anticipates delays based on previous interactions and adjusts actions accordingly. These results emphasize the importance of minimizing systematic delays to maintain optimal user performance and highlight the potential for system properties to become embedded in users’ cognitive action structures.