An Extension to Simulated Web-Based Threats and Their Impact on Knowledge Communication Effectiveness

This paper presents an extension to the study by Kock, Chatelain-Jardon, and Carmona (2008), An Experimental Study of Simulated Web-Based Threats and Their Impact on Knowledge Communication Effectiveness, and empirically validates their results. Kock and colleagues reported that enhanced memorization capacity can be used in computer interfaces to exploit knowledge communication. They evaluated the impact of an evolutionary adaptive web-simulated threat (simulated web-based snake attack) on the effectiveness of knowledge communication and reported positive and significant outcomes. This research extends their study by using a technology-related web-simulated threat and measuring its impact on knowledge communication effectiveness. This research showed that the subjects in the treatment condition performed approximately 34% better than those in the control condition, which, provides empirical support to the original study and shows how to exploit automatic brain mechanisms to enhance knowledge communication effectiveness throughout the design of computer interfaces.