ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Decision Neuroscience
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroJourney: decoding customer behavior through brain pathwaysView all 7 articles
Are emojis better? The impact of Generative AI emoji cues and service outcomes on user satisfaction: Evidence from ERPs
Provisionally accepted
Ruxia Cheng
Rui Sun*- Huaqiao University, Quanzhou, China
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Abstract: To promote the sustainable development of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) applications in the service industry, enhancing user satisfaction is key. Emojis serve as catalysts for conveying emotions and enhancing user experience in online communication. However, due to the black-box nature and unpredictability of GenAI, service providers find it challenging to control the boundaries of their application. Currently, there is ongoing debate within the academic community regarding the use of Emojis in GenAI, particularly concerning emotional manipulation and experience enhancement, with further exploration needed into their effectiveness and underlying mechanisms. This study is based on the theory of "emotion as social information" and employs event-related potential (ERP) technology with high temporal resolution, which is more suitable for GenAI interaction scenarios. By measuring users' immediate cognitive processing and psychological activities, the study analyzes the underlying cognitive neural mechanisms through which Emojis (presence vs. absence) and service outcomes (success vs. failure) influence user satisfaction. Behavioral results indicate that the outcome of GenAI services determines user satisfaction, while the use or absence of Emojis does not directly impact satisfaction. ERP results show that the presence of Emojis compared to their absence triggers larger P3 amplitudes (emotional experience) and N4 amplitudes (cognitive conflict); compared to service success, the presence of Emojis during service failure triggers larger N4 amplitudes. This study reveals the complexity of user responses in real human-machine interaction environments, enriches research on the use of Emojis in GenAI, and provides scientific theoretical and practical foundations for GenAI design and enhancing user experience. Keywords: Generative Artificial Intelligence; emoji; service outcome; satisfaction; event-related potentials
Keywords: Generative artificial intelligence, Emoji, service outcome, Satisfaction, Event-related potentials
Received: 21 Aug 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cheng and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rui Sun, 921672639@qq.com
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