CIS 3003 - Human-Computer Interaction - Quiz 1

What is memory?

Memory involves recalling various kinds of knowledge like remembering names, recognizing faces etc.

List the six cognitive processes.

1- Attention 2- Perception 3- Memory 4- Learning 5- Reading, Speaking and Listening 6- Problem solving, planning, reasoning, decision making

What are the design implications of the cognitive process of Learning?

1- Design interfaces that encourage exploration 2- Design interfaces that constrain and guide learners 3- Dynamically linking concepts and representations can facilitate the learning of complex material

Why is digital content a growing problem?

1- Digital content is a growing problem because there are a huge number of resources 2- Where and how to save them all, then remembering what they were called and where to find them again 3- Naming is the most common way of encoding them.

What are the design implications for memory as a cognitive process?

1- Don't overload users' memories with complicated procedures for carrying out tasks 2- Design interfaces that promote recognition rather than recall 3- Provide users with various ways of encoding information to help them remember. e.g. categories, color, flagging, time stamping

Why is it important to understand cognition in Interaction design?

1- Interaction with technology involves cognitive processes 2- It provides us knowledge of what users can do and what they cannot do 3- It identifies and explains what kind of problems users can encounter. 4- It supply theories, modelling tools, guidance and methods that can lead to the design of better interactive products

List few applications that have been developed by understanding peoples speaking, listening, reading skills?

1- Interactive Books to read and listen 2- Speech-recognition systems that allow users to interact with them by asking questions e.g. Google Voice, Siri 3- Speech-output systems use artificially generated speech e.g. written-text-to-speech systems for the blind. 4- Natural-language systems enable users to type in questions and give text-based responses e.g. Ask search engine

Explain the cognitive process of problem solving, reasoning and decision making.

1- It involves reflective cognition 2- Often involves conscious processes, discussion with others, and the use of artifacts 3- May involve working through different scenarios and deciding which is best option 4- The extent to which people engage in reflective cognition depends on their level of experience with a domain, application, or skill.

What are some main characteristics (facts) of memory as a cognitive process?

1- It is not possible to remember everything we see, hear, smell etc. A filtering process is used to determine what gets further processed and remembered. 2- It involves first encoding and then retrieving knowledge. 3 -The more attention we pay to something, the more it is processed, the more likely it is to be remembered. 4- Context is important in affecting our memory 5- People are much better at recognizing things than recalling things 6- People can remember up-to 7 +- 2 things (George Millers theory)

What are the differences between the three forms of language - Reading, Speaking and Listening?

1- Many prefer listening to reading since listening requires less cognitive effort than reading or speaking 2- Reading is quicker than speaking or listening 3- Dyslexics have difficulties understanding and recognizing words

How can search be facilitated for digital content by taking into account people's memory abilities?

1- Memory involves 2 processes - recall-directed and recognition-based scanning 2- File management systems should be designed to optimize both kinds of memory processes e.g. Search box(recall) and history list (recognition) 3- Help users encode files in richer ways 4- Provide them with ways of saving files using color, flagging, image, flexible text, time stamping, etc

What are some of the main characteristics (facts) of learning?

1- People find it very hard to learn by following a manual 2- People prefer to learn through doing, exploring 3- Interactive multimedia enables this by providing simulations

What are some of the main characteristics (facts) of perception?

1- Perception is influenced by our past experiences, what we have learned and even our expectations 2- Perception is relative 3- Perception can be enhanced or diminished by sensory experience

What the design implications of problem solving, reasoning and decision making?

1- Provide additional information for users who want to understand more about how to do an activity more effectively 2- Use simple computational aids to support rapid decision-making and planning for users on the move

What are the design implications of reading, listening and speaking as a cognitive process?

1- Speech-based menus and instructions should be short 2- Tone of artificially generated speech voices should be clear Since they are harder to understand than human voices 3- Provide options for making text large on a screen

George Millers theory is applied by many designers by presenting only 7 items in a menu, or 7 icons in a toolbar, or 7 options in a drop down menu. Why is this wrong?

1- This is wrong because people can scan items in a menu and recognize what they are looking for 2- They don't have to recall the menu options. 3- A small number may be good to avoid cluttering the screen

What are some of the main characteristics (facts) of attention?

1- We can choose what we want to pay attention to regardless of the information around us 2- We focus on what is relevant to us 3- Attention can be shifted involuntarily due to distractions 4- Attention is limited, which means that we cannot pay full attention to two things at the same time.

What are some of the techniques used to improve memory?

Chunking information makes it easier to remember - For example 62838292 , 628-382-92 Using mnemonics, using the first letter of the word to create a phrase - RGB, Red Green Blue

What is cognition?

Cognition is the process of acquiring knowledge by thinking, experience using senses etc. It includes processes such as attention, perception, memory

What are the design implications for attention?

Make information salient when it needs attending to Avoid cluttering the interface with too much information

Is it possible to perform multiple tasks without one or more of them being detrimentally (seriously) affected?

No, we cannot multi-task. We can only pay attention to one thing at a time. We shift our attention briefly from one task to another. An exception to this is if one of the tasks involved is physical in nature and we can do it very well, like walking and talking. However, there is still an increased risk of mistakes. Heavy multi-taskers are easily distracted.

What is the design implications for Perception? Give few example

Present information in an appropriate format so that it can easily be perceived and recognized. Example: 1- Icons should be clear and enable users to readily distinguish their meaning 2- Information should be grouped using bordering and spacing techniques 3- Text should be legible and distinguishable from the background 4- Sounds should be audible and distinguishable 5- Speech output should be clear and enable users to distinguish between the set of spoken words 6- Tactile feedback should allow users to recognize and distinguish different meanings

Define Attention as a cognitive process

Selectively focusing on a certain aspect of information, while ignoring other perceivable information

What is Perception?

The way we receive information from our environment and interpret it. It is complex and involves other cognitive processes such as memory, attention and language