Reflections – The Three levels of Processing in the Human Brain

“I have no idea how I got here, but I did, and I did it safely”

This is me talking to myself as I pull into my kid’s school parking lot, looking for a carline spot. The drive is 25 minutes and includes multiple highways. I have taken that route every day for multiple years which has made it second nature.

On multiple occasions this week, I found myself taking a step back and figuring out on what level of Processing is my brain right now. The idea has intrigued me. In the book ‘The Design of Everyday Things (2013)”, Don Norman suggests his approach to understanding the levels of processing within the Human Brain. He suggests that this idea is a good approximation of human cognition and emotion. According to his observation, there are three levels of brain processing – Visceral Level has to do with basic instinct processing which is unconscious like the fear of heights, or dark; Behavioral level relates to anything that is learned and practiced so many times that it becomes largely unconscious action for our brains, like driving; Reflective Level is the conscious level of brain processing. This process is slow and thought out, like learning a new thing or taking a new route to your destination, you will have to calculate every turn unlike my everyday drive to school pickup.

I realize that my drive to school has become a behavioral level processing in my brain, doing the same thing over and over again for years. I also now notice the last part, my conscious brain wakes up as I pull in, because my car line spot changes every day.  As Designers, we need to grasp each of the three conscious and unconscious levels of processing in the human brain.

The book describes the levels of processing in terms of product design, let’s look at it in focus with websites and apps. Basic Aesthetics, interface, colors, typography, hero image, even the VPM touches the Visceral processing in our brain, this stage is all about the instinct emotions and makes an image of our brand in the user’s mind. This is why ‘first impressions’ are so important, why aesthetics matter. The second stage is the behavioral processing, this is where the usability of the website occurs. To make use of this level of processing we need to make sure we deploy the conceptual model of the user – putting links in the place a user would expect it to be – for example, contact us links in the footer, and About us link on the main Navigation. The reflective Processing comes down to the end result of the website. Is the user happy with what information or product they got from the website, were they able to finish the task that was their primary objective. Was this experience pleasant and successful?

A website needs to be designed keeping in mind all three levels of Emotional and Cognitive Processing in the Human brain. Many times something that is successful on one level can leave a lasting impression on the user. On the other hand, completely failing on one level can create a feeling of frustration and disappointment, and can bring down the whole experience.

P.S The concept is discussed in detail in the Book Emotional Design also by Don Norman, Next on my list