Physiological heatmaps: a tool for visualizing users’ emotional reactions

TLDR

Physiological data are increasingly used in HCI to capture continuous user experience, but meaningful interpretation requires linking signals to interaction states. This paper introduces a method that visually interprets users’ physiological signals during interface interaction. The method combines eye‑tracking with physiological signals to generate heatmaps that highlight regions where users experience distinct emotional and cognitive states, evaluated with 44 participants. Physiological heatmaps more accurately identify emotionally salient interface regions than standard gaze heatmaps, and the approach has broader applicability across HCI research.

Abstract

Practitioners in many fields of human-computer interaction are now using physiological data to measure different aspects of user experience. The dynamic nature of physiological data offers a continuous window to the users and allows a better understanding of their experience while interacting with a system. However, in order to be truly informative, physiological signals need to be closely linked to users’ behaviors and interaction states. This paper presents an analysis method that provides a direct visual interpretation of users’ physiological signals when interacting with an interface. The proposed physiological heatmap tool uses eyetracking data along with physiological signals to identify regions where users are experiencing different emotional and cognitive states with a higher frequency. The method was evaluated in an experiment with 44 participants. Results show that physiological heatmaps are able to identify emotionally significant regions within an interface better than standard gaze heatmaps. Applications of the method to different fields of HCI research are also discussed.