Towards the Applicability of Measuring the Electrodermal Activity in the Context of Process Model Comprehension: Feasibility Study

Process model comprehension is essential in order to understand the Five Ws (i.e., who, what, where, when, and why) pertaining to the processes of organizations. However, research in this context showed that a proper comprehension of process models often poses a challenge in practice. For this reason, a vast body of research exists studying the factors having an influence on process model comprehension. In order to point research towards a neuro-centric perspective in this context, the paper at hand evaluates the appropriateness of measuring the electrodermal activity (EDA) during the comprehension of process models. Therefore, a preliminary test run and a feasibility study were conducted relying on an EDA and physical activity sensor to record the EDA during process model comprehension. The insights obtained from the feasibility study demonstrated that process model comprehension leads to an increased activity in the EDA. Furthermore, EDA-related results indicated significantly that participants were confronted with a higher cognitive load during the comprehension of complex process models. In addition, the experiences and limitations we have learned in measuring the EDA during the comprehension of process models are discussed in this paper. In conclusion, the feasibility study demonstrated that the measurement of the EDA could be an appropriate method to obtain new insights in process model comprehension.