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Chapter 3
UNDERSTANDING USERS COGNITION
OVERVIEW
▪What is cognition?

▪What are users good and bad at?

▪Describe how cognition has been applied to interaction design

▪Explain what are Mental Models

▪Cover relevant theories of cognition

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WHAT IS COGNITION?

Cognition is the mental process of acquiring

knowledge and understanding through
thought, experience and the senses. It
includes all the mental processes that allow
us to perceive, think, remember and learn.
Cognition is a complex mental process that
involves the acquisition and use of
knowledge and understanding.

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COMMON TYPES OF COGNITIVE PROCESSES

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ACTIVITY ON COGNITION

1. Kofi has 14 mangoes and Afia has 9

mangoes. How many more mangoes has Kofi?

2. You have been given a task to develop

learning management system for Kindergarten
1-2. What is your mental model about the
system?

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COGNITION MODES /TYPES OF COGNITION

Norman (1993) distinguishes between TWO general modes of cognition:

1. Experiential/ Non-reflective cognition : a state of mind in which
we perceive, act, and react to events around us effectively and
effortlessly.
 It requires reaching a certain level of expertise and engagement.
 Examples include driving a car, reading a book, having a conversation,
and playing a video game.

2. Reflective cognition: involves thinking, comparing, and decision-

making.
 This kind of cognition is what leads to new ideas and creativity.
 Examples include designing, learning, and writing a book.
 Norman points out that both modes are essential for everyday life
but that each requires different kinds of technological support.

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 COGNITIVE PROCESSES
Cognition has also been described in terms of specific kinds of
processes. These include:
1. Attention

2. Perception

3. Memory
4. Learning

5. Reading, speaking and listening

6. Problem-solving, planning, reasoning and decision-making

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 THE THREE COMPONENTS
OF COGNITION
1. Encoding includes the process of getting information into
memory in the first place. This can be done through various
means, such as paying attention to the information, rehearsal, and
making associations.

2. Storage is the second component, and refers to keeping

information in memory over time. This can be done through a
variety of means as well, such as consolidation and elaboration.

3. Retrieval is the process of accessing information that is stored in

memory. This can be done through different techniques, such as
retrieval cues and associative retrieval.
All of these are necessary for a person to be able to effectively
remember something. In each of these domains, there are multiple
important features required for understanding the processes involved.
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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
1. 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

▪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

▪Information at the interface should be structured to capture users’ attention,

e.g. use perceptual boundaries (windows), colour, reverse video, sound and
flashing lights

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ACTIVITY: FIND THE PRICE FOR A DOUBLE ROOM
AT THE QUALITY INN IN PENNSYLVANIA

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ACTIVITY: FIND THE PRICE OF A DOUBLE ROOM
AT THE HOLIDAY INN IN COLUMBIA

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ACTIVITY
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

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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 multi-taskers

 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

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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

Search engines and form fill-ins that have simple and clean
interfaces are easier to use

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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
2. PERCEPTION

How information is acquired from the world and

transformed into experiences

Obvious implication is to design representations that are

readily perceivable, e.g.

 Text should be legible

 Icons should be easy to distinguish and read

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IS COLOR CONTRAST GOOD?
FIND ITALIAN

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ARE BORDERS AND WHITE
SPACE BETTER? FIND FRENCH

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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

Do you agree?

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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?

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DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
 Icons should enable users to readily distinguish their meaning

 Bordering and spacing are effective visual ways of grouping information

 Sounds should be audible and distinguishable

 Speech output should enable users to distinguish between the set of spoken
words

 Text should be legible and distinguishable from the background

 Tactile feedback should allow users to recognize and distinguish different

meanings

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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
3. 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

we remember less about objects we have photographed than

when we observe them with the naked eye (Henkel, 2014)

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STAGES IN MEMORY
PROCESSING
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

 E.g. when learning about HCI, it is much better to reflect upon it, carry out
exercises, have discussions with others about it, and write notes than just
passively read a book, listen to a lecture or watch a video about it

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CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT IN
MEMORY
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:
 E.g.“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”

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ACTIVITY
Try to remember the dates of your grandparents’ birthday

Try to remember the cover of the last two DVDs you bought or rented

Which was easiest? Why?

People are very good at remembering visual cues about things

 e.g. the color of items, the location of objects and marks on an object

They find it more difficult to learn and remember arbitrary material

 e.g. birthdays and phone numbers

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RECOGNITION VERSUS
RECALL
Command-based interfaces require users to recall
from memory a name from a possible set of 100s

GUIs provides MP3 players visually-based options

that users need only browse through until they
recognize one

Web browsers, etc., provide lists of visited URLs,

song titles etc., that support recognition memory

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THE PROBLEM WITH THE
CLASSIC ‘72’
George Miller’s (1956) theory of how much
information people can remember

People’s immediate memory capacity is very limited

Many designers think this is useful finding for

interaction design

But…

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WHAT SOME DESIGNERS GET UP TO…

Present only 7 options on a menu

Display only 7 icons on a tool bar

Have no more than 7 bullets in a list

Place only 7 items on a pull down menu

Place only 7 tabs on the top of a website page

 But this is wrong? Why?

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 WHY?
Inappropriate application of the theory

People can scan lists of bullets, tabs, menu items

for the one they want

They don’t have to recall them from memory having

only briefly heard or seen them

Sometimes a small number of items is good

But depends on task and available screen estate

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DIGITAL CONTENT 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?

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DIGITAL CONTENT
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.

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IS APPLE’S SPOTLIGHT SEARCH TOOL
ANY GOOD?

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DESIGN IMPLICATIONS OF
MEMORY
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

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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
4. LEARNING
How to learn to use a computer-based application

Using a computer-based application or YouTube video to understand a

given topic

People find it hard to learn by following instructions in a manual

 prefer to learn by doing

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DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
Design interfaces that encourage exploration

Design interfaces that constrain and guide learners

Dynamically linking concepts and representations can facilitate the

learning of complex material

Question:
What are implications for designing technologies to support how people
will learn, and what they learn?

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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
5. 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

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 APPLICATIONS TO SUPPORT
READING, SPEAKING, AND
LISTENING
Speech-recognition systems allow users to interact with
them by asking questions

 e.g. Google Voice, Siri

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

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 DESIGN IMPLICATIONS FOR
READING, SPEAKING AND
LISTENING
Speech-based menus and instructions should be short

Accentuate the intonation of artificially generated speech voices

 they are harder to understand than human voices

Provide opportunities for making text large on a screen

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 Cognitive Processes – Cont.
6. 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
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

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 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

What tools/technology can we use to support this?

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DILEMMA
The app mentality developing in the psyche of the younger
generation is making it worse for them to make their own
decisions because they are becoming risk averse (Gardner
and Davis, 2013)

Relying on a multitude of apps means that they are becoming

increasingly more anxious about making decisions by
themselves

Do you agree? Can you think of an example?

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 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

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 MENTAL MODELS
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

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 EVERYDAY REASONING AND
MENTAL MODELS
(a) You arrive home on a cold winter’s night to a cold house.
How do you get the house to warm up as quickly as
possible? Set the thermostat to be at its highest or to the
desired temperature?

(b) You arrive home starving hungry. You look in the fridge and
find all that is left is an uncooked pizza. You have an
electric oven. Do you warm it up to 375 degrees first and
then put it in (as specified by the instructions) or turn the
oven up higher to try to warm it up quicker?

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HEATING UP A ROOM OR OVEN
THAT IS THERMOSTAT-
CONTROLLED
Many people have erroneous mental models (Kempton, 1996).
Why?
 General valve theory, where ‘more is more’ principle is generalised to
different settings (e.g. gas pedal, gas cooker, tap, radio volume)
 Thermostats based on model of on-off switch model

Same is often true for understanding how interactive devices and

computers work:
e.g. elevators and pedestrian crossings - lot of people hit the button at
least twice

Why?
 Think it will make the lights change faster or ensure the elevator arrives!

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EXERCISE: ATMS
Write down how an ATM works

 How much money are you allowed to take out?

 What denominations?

 If you went to another machine and tried the same what would happen?

 What information is on the strip on your card? How is this used?

 What happens if you enter the wrong number?

 Why are there pauses between the steps of a transaction? What happens if
you try to type during them?

 Why does the card stay inside the machine?

 Do you count the money? Why?

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HOW DID YOU FARE?
Your mental model
 How accurate?
 How similar?
 How shallow?

Payne (1991) did a similar study and found that people

frequently resort to analogies to explain how they work

People’s accounts greatly varied and were often ad hoc

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INFORMATION PROCESSING
Conceptualizes human performance in metaphorical terms of
information processing stages

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EXTERNAL COGNITION
Concerned with explaining how we interact with
external representations (e.g. maps, notes,
diagrams)

What are the cognitive benefits and what processes

are involved

How they extend our cognition

What computer-based representations can we

develop to help even more?

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EXTERNALIZING TO REDUCE
MEMORY LOAD
Diaries, reminders, calendars, notes, shopping lists, to-do 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)

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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

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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

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 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

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 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, such as mental models and

external cognition, provide ways of understanding how and
why people interact with products

This can lead to thinking about how to design better

products
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READ ON GOMS MODEL

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