COGNITIVE ASPECTS

COGNITIVE ASPECTS

1. Cognitive processes

   • Attention
     • Focussed and divided attention enables us to be selective in terms of the mass of competing stimuli but limits our ability to keep track of all events
     • Design implications
       • Use techniques that make things stand out like color, ordering, spacing, underlining, sequencing and animation
       • Avoid cluttering the interface with too much information
       • Search engines and form fill-ins that have simple and clean interfaces are easier to use
   • Perception
     • How information is acquired from the world and transformed into experiences
     • Design implications
       • Text should be legible and distinguishable from the background
       • Icons should enable users to readily distinguish their meaning
       • Tactile feedback should allow users to recognize and distinguish different meanings
   • Memory
     • Involves first encoding and then retrieving knowledge.
     • Design implications
       • Provide users with various ways of encoding information to help them remember e.g. categories, color, flagging, time stamping
       • Don’t overload users’ memories with complicated procedures for carrying out tasks
   • Learning
     • People find it hard to learn by following instructions in a manual
     • How to learn to use a computer-based application
     • Design implications
       • Design interfaces that constrain and guide learners
       • Dynamically linking concepts and representations can facilitate the learning of complex material
   • Reading, speaking and listening
     • The ease with which people can read, listen, or speak differs
     • Design implications
       • Provide opportunities for making text large on a screen
   • Problem-solving, planning, reasoning and decision-making
     • All involves reflective cognition e.g. thinking about what to do, what the options are, and the consequences
     • Design implications
       • Provide additional information/functions for users who wish to understand more about how to carry out an activity more effectively
       • Use simple computational aids to support rapid decision-making and planning for users on the move

2. Mental models

   • Users develop an understanding of a system through learning about and using it

3. Gulfs of execution and evaluation

   • 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