Interaction design and cognitive aspects
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This document provides an overview of cognition and cognitive theories that are relevant to interaction design. It discusses key cognitive processes like attention, perception, memory, learning, and problem solving. It also summarizes several cognitive frameworks for understanding how users interact with technology, including mental models, distributed cognition, and the gulfs of execution and evaluation. The document emphasizes that understanding cognition can help designers create interfaces that are easier for users to perceive, learn, remember and complete tasks on.
Interaction design and cognitive aspects
- 1. IM2044 – Week 2: Lecture Dr. Andres Baravalle
- 2. Outline • • • • What is cognition? What are users good and bad at? Mental Models Theories of cognition 2
- 3. Interaction design • The next slides are based on the companion slides for the textbook 3
- 4. What is cognition? • Experiential cognition is a state of mind in which we perceive, act and react to events around us effectively and effortlessly (Norman, 1993) • Examples include driving a car, reading a book or discussing 4
- 5. What is cognition? (2) • Reflective cognition involves thinking, comparing and decision making • Examples include learning, writing – and your tutorial activities 5
- 6. Cognitive processes • Cognition can also be described in terms of cognitive processes • Examples include: – – – – – – Attention Perception and recognition Memory Learning Reading, speaking and listening Problem-solving, planning, reasoning and decisionmaking 6
- 7. Why do we need to understand cognition? • Interacting with technology is involves a number of cognitive processes • Need to take into account cognitive processes involved and cognitive limitations of users • Provides knowledge about what users can and cannot be expected to do • Identifies and explains the nature and causes of problems users encounter • Supply theories, modelling tools, guidance and methods that can lead to the design of better interactive products 7
- 8. Attention • Selecting things to concentrate on at a point in time from the mass of stimuli around us – Allows us to focus on information that is relevant to what we are doing – Involves audio and/or visual senses – Enables us to be selective in terms of the mass of stimuli but limits our ability to keep track of all events • Information at the interface should be structured to capture users’ attention appropriately, e.g. use perceptual boundaries (windows), colour, video/sound 8
- 9. Activity: Find the price of a double room at the Holiday Inn in Bradley 9
- 10. Activity: Find the price for a double room at the Quality Inn in Columbia 10
- 11. Results • Tullis (1987) found that the two screens produced quite different results – 1st screen - took an average of 5.5 seconds to search – 2nd screen - took 3.2 seconds to search • Why, since both displays have the same density of information (31%)? • Spacing – In the 1st screen the information is bunched up together, making it hard to search – In the 2nd screen the characters are grouped into vertical categories of information making it easier 11
- 12. Multitasking and attention • Is it possible to perform multiple tasks without one or more of them being detrimentally affected? • Ophir et al (2009) compared heavy vs light multitaskers – Heavy were more prone to being distracted than those who infrequently multitask – Heavy multi-taskers are easily distracted and find it difficult to filter irrelevant information 12
- 13. Design implications for attention • Make information salient when it needs attending to • Use techniques that make things stand out like colour, ordering, spacing, underlining, sequencing and animation • Avoid cluttering the interface with too much information • Avoid using too much because the software allows it 13
- 14. Design implications for attention (2) • Overuse of graphics Our Situation State the bad news Be clear, don’t try to obscure the situation 14
- 15. Perception • How information is acquired from the environment and transformed into experiences • Vision is the most dominant sense for sighted individuals – Design representations that are readily perceivable, e.g. • Text should be legible • Icons should be easy to distinguish and readable 15
- 16. Is color contrast good? Find italian 16
- 17. Are borders and white space better? Find french 17
- 18. Activity • Weller (2004) found people took less time to locate items for information that was grouped – using a border (2nd screen) compared with using color contrast (1st screen) • Some argue that too much white space on web pages is detrimental to search – Makes it hard to find information 18
- 19. Which is easiest to read and why? What is the time? What is the time? What is the time? What is the time? What is the time? 19
- 20. Design implications • Icons should enable users to readily distinguish their meaning • Bordering and spacing are effective visual ways of grouping information • Text should be legible and distinguishable from the background 20
- 21. Memory • Involves first encoding and then retrieving knowledge • We don’t remember everything - involves filtering and processing what is attended to • Context is important in affecting our memory (i.e. where, when) • We recognize things much better than being able to recall things 21
- 22. Processing in memory • Encoding is first stage of memory – Determines which information is attended to in the environment and how it is interpreted • The more attention paid to something… – The more it is processed in terms of thinking about it and comparing it with other knowledge… – The more likely it is to be remembered 22
- 23. Context is important • Context affects the extent to which information can be subsequently retrieved • Sometimes it can be difficult for people to recall information that was encoded in a different context: – “You are on a train and someone comes up to you and says hello. You don’t recognize him for a few moments but then realize it is one of your neighbors. You are only used to seeing your neighbor in the hallway of your apartment block and seeing him out of context makes him difficult to recognize initially” 23
- 24. Recognition versus recall • Command-based interfaces require users to recall from memory a name from a possible set of 100s • GUIs provide visually-based options that users need only browse through until they recognize one • Web browsers, MP3 players, etc., provide lists of visited URLs, song titles etc., that support recognition memory 24
- 25. Personal information management • Personal information management is a growing problem for many users – vast numbers of documents, images, music files, video clips, emails, attachments, bookmarks, etc., – where and how to save them all, then remembering what they were called and where to find them again – naming most common means of encoding them – but can be difficult to remember, especially when have 1000s and 1000s – How might such a process be facilitated taking into account people’s memory abilities? 25
- 26. Personal information management • Memory involves 2 processes – Recall-directed and recognition-based scanning • File management systems should be designed to optimize both kinds of memory processes – e.g. Search box and history list • Help users encode files in richer ways – Provide them with ways of saving files using colour, flagging, image, flexible text, time stamping, etc 26
- 27. Design implications • Don’t overload users’ memories with complicated procedures for carrying out tasks • Design interfaces that promote recognition rather than recall • Provide users with various ways of encoding information to help them remember – e.g. categories, color, flagging, time stamping 27
- 28. Learning in HCI • Learning in HCI can be considered in terms of: – How to learn to use a computer-based application – Using a computer-based application to understand a given topic 28
- 29. Learning in HCI (2) • People find it hard to learn by following instructions in a manual • prefer to learn by doing 29
- 30. Design implications • Design interfaces that encourage exploration • Design interfaces that constrain and guide learners • Dynamically link concepts and representations to facilitate the learning of complex material 30
- 31. Reading, speaking, and listening • The ease with which people can read, listen, or speak differs – Many prefer listening to reading – Reading can be quicker than speaking or listening – Listening requires less cognitive effort than reading or speaking – Dyslexics have difficulties understanding and recognizing written words 31
- 32. Applications • Speech-recognition systems allow users to interact with them by using spoken commands – e.g. Google Voice Search app • Speech-output systems use artificially generated speech • e.g. written-text-to-speech systems for the blind • Natural-language systems enable users to type in questions and give text-based responses – e.g. Ask search engine 32
- 33. Problem-solving, planning, reasoning and decision-making • They are all processes involving reflective cognition – e.g. thinking about what to do, what the options are, and the consequences • Often involves conscious processes, discussion with others (or oneself), and the use of artefacts – e.g. maps, books, pen and paper • May involve working through different scenarios and deciding which is best option 33
- 34. Cognitive frameworks • Developed to explain and predict user behaviour based on theories of cognition • We will cover in the next pages some of the models described on your textbook 35
- 35. Mental models • Users develop an understanding of a system through learning about and using it • Knowledge is sometimes described as a mental model: – How to use the system (what to do next) – What to do with unfamiliar systems or unexpected situations (how the system works) • People make inferences using mental models of how to carry out tasks 36
- 36. Mental models (2) • Craik (1943) described mental models as: – internal constructions of some aspect of the external world enabling predictions to be made • Involves unconscious and conscious processes – images and analogies are activated • Deep versus shallow models – e.g. how to drive a car and how it works 37
- 37. Gulfs of execution and evaluation • The ‘gulfs’ explicate the gaps that exist between the user and the interface • The gulf of execution – the distance from the user to the physical system • The gulf of evaluation – the distance from the physical system to the user • Bridging the gulfs can reduce cognitive effort required to perform tasks 39 Norman, 1986; Hutchins et al, 1986
- 39. Limitations • Based on modelling mental activities that happen exclusively inside the head • Do not adequately account for how people interact with computers and other devices in real world 41
- 40. External cognition • Concerned with explaining how we interact with external representations (e.g. maps, notes, diagrams) • What are the cognitive benefits and what processes involved • How they extend our cognition • What computer-based representations can we develop to help even more? – Externalizing – Computational offloading – Annotating and cognitive tracing 42
- 41. Externalizing to reduce memory load • Diaries, reminders, calendars, notes, shopping lists, todo lists – written to remind us of what to do • Post-its, piles, marked emails – where placed indicates priority of what to do • External representations: – Remind us that we need to do something (e.g. to buy something for mother’s day) – Remind us of what to do (e.g. buy a card) – Remind us when to do something (e.g. send a card by a certain date) 43
- 42. Computational offloading • When a tool is used in conjunction with an external representation to carry out a computation (e.g. pen and paper) • Try doing the two sums below (a) in your head, (b) on a piece of paper and c) with a calculator. – 234 x 456 =?? – CCXXXIIII x CCCCXXXXXVI = ??? • Which is easiest and why? Both are identical sums 44
- 43. Annotation and cognitive tracing • Annotation involves modifying existing representations through making marks – e.g. crossing off, ticking, underlining • Cognitive tracing involves externally manipulating items into different orders or structures – e.g. playing Scrabble, playing cards 45
- 44. Design implication • Provide external representations at the interface that reduce memory load and facilitate computational offloading e.g. Information visualizations have been designed to allow people to make sense and rapid decisions about masses of data 46
- 45. Distributed cognition • Concerned with the nature of cognitive phenomena across individuals, artifacts, and internal and external representations (Hutchins, 1995) • Describes these in terms of propagation across representational state • Information is transformed through different media (computers, displays, paper, heads) 47
- 46. How it differs from information processing 48
- 47. 49
- 48. What’s involved • The distributed problem-solving that takes place • The role of verbal and non-verbal behavior • The various coordinating mechanisms that are used (e.g. rules, procedures) • The communication that takes place as the collaborative activity progresses • How knowledge is shared and accessed 50
- 49. Summary • Cognition involves several processes including attention, memory, perception and learning • The way an interface is designed can greatly affect how well users can perceive, attend, learn and remember how to do their tasks • Theoretical frameworks provide ways of understanding how and why people interact with products • This can lead to thinking about how to design better products 51
Editor's Notes
- #7: It is important to note that many of these cognitive processes are interdependent: several may be involved for a given activity. It is rare for one to occur in isolation. For example, when you try to learn material for an exam, you need to attend to the material, perceive and recognize it, read it, think about it, and try to remember it. Below we describe the various kinds in more detail, followed by a summary box highlighting core design implications for each. Most relevant for interaction design are attention and memory which we describe in greatest detail.
- #41: Figure 3.8