HUMAN

Roadmap

Information I/O channels

Responding to stimulus
Human memory
Thinking
Errors and mental models
Emotion vs. human capabilities
Users individual differences
Psychology and the design of interactive systems

The Human

User Information Processing System

Information

Comes in

(Input)

Is stored

(Memory)

Is processed

(Processing)

Is passed out

(Output)

Information I/O Channels

Information Input / Output:

Human beings interaction dependent on information being received

and given: input and output.

Interaction with computer

User receives information that is output by the computer

Responds by providing input to the computer
i.e. users output (user gives) becomes computers input and the
users input (user receives) becomes the computers output.

Human I/O Channels

Input : Senses Involved

Visual sense/vision (sight)

Auditory sense/hearing (sound)
Sense of touch (hap tic)
Sense of smell
Sense of taste

Vision, hearing and touch are currently the ones being

significantly used in HCI.

Output: Motor control of effectors

Effectors are body parts that can respond to stimulation e.g. fingers, eyes,
head, foot, vocal system, etc

Example

Computer with keyboard and mouse

Application: GUI, Menus & Icons

Information Received

Sight

Ears

Touch

Information Sent

Hands: Keyboard, mouse

Vision
Vision is primary source of information for
humans

Visual Perception --Two stages

Physical reception of Stimulus

Processing and Interpretation of Stimulus

Eye and Interfaces

Interpretation and/or Perception of size and

depth, brightness and color, each of which is
crucial to the design of effective visual
interfaces

Eye

The Eye - Physical Reception

Mechanism for receiving light and transforming it into

electrical energy

Light reflects from objects

Images are focused upside-down on retina

Retina contains Photoreceptors:

Rods: Highly sensitive to light for low light vision

Cones: For colour vision

Ganglion cells detect

Pattern
movement

Interpreting the Signal

Size and depth

Visual Angle indicates how
much of view object occupies

Visual Acuity is ability to

perceive detail
Familiar objects perceived as
constant size

relates to size and distance from eye

In spite of changes in visual angle

when far away

Cues like overlapping help

perception of size and depth

Interpreting the Signal (cont)

Brightness

Subjective reaction to levels of light

Affected by luminance of object
Visual acuity increases with luminance as does flicker

Colour

Made up of hue, intensity, saturation

Cones sensitive to colour wavelengths

Red, Green, Blue

8% males and 1% females colour blind

Interpreting the Signal - Colour

Hue

Saturation

Hue is what most people think of when we say color

Hue is the name of a distinct color of the spectrum, It is the particular
wavelength frequency

Saturation is the purity of a colour

Value (Intensity, Brightness, Lightness)

Refers to the intensity of light present. When light is at its fullest

intensity, colors will become bright
Unlike saturation, there isn't necessarily less of the color it is just not as
intense

Interpreting the Signal (cont)

The visual system compensates for:

movement
changes in luminance

Context is used to resolve ambiguity

Optical illusions sometimes occur due to over

compensation

Interpreting the Signal

Ambiguity

Bor13???

Contextisusedtoresolveambiguity

Interpret&exploittheexpectation

Optical Illusions
The Muller Lyer illusion

The Ponzo illusion

The Proof Reading Illusion

Hearing

Provides information about environment:

distances, directions, objects etc.

Physical apparatus:

outer ear

middle ear

protects inner and amplifies sound

transmits sound waves as vibrations to inner ear

inner ear

chemical transmitters are released and cause impulses in auditory

nerve

Hearing

Sound

Pitch
Loudness
Timbre

sound frequency
amplitude
type or quality

Hearing (cont)

Humans can hear frequencies from 20Hz to 15kHz

Less accurate distinguishing high frequencies than
low.

Auditory system filters sounds

Can attend to sounds over background noise
For example the cocktail party phenomenon.

Touch

Provides important feedback about environment.

May be key sense for someone who is visually impaired.

Stimulus received via receptors in the skin:

thermoreceptors
heat and cold
nociceptors pain
mechanoreceptors
pressure
(some instant, some
continuous)

Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers.

Kinethesis - awareness of body position

Question: Ecommerce (CDs & Books vs. Clothes)

Movement

Fitts Law:

Describes the time taken to hit a screen target

MovementTime=a+blog2(D/S+1)
where:
aandbareempiricallydeterminedconstants
DisDistancefromtargetcentre
SisSizeoftarget
Important:D&Sarecalculatedalongtheaxisofmotion

Movement

FittsLaw

Movement Time = a + b log2(D/S + 1)

IndexofDifficulty

=>Targetsaslargeaspossible
=>Distancesassmallaspossible

Movement

Pie-chart shaped menus

All options are equidistant (As opposed to lists)

Increased used of screen estate

Responding to Stimulus

Time taken to respond to stimulus =

Reaction time + Movement time

Movement time: dependent on age, fitness, etc.

Reaction time: dependent on stimulus type e.g.

visual
auditory
pain

~ 200ms
~ 150 ms
~ 700ms

Increasing reaction time decreases accuracy in the unskilled

operator but not in the skilled operator.

HUMAN MEMORY
There are three types of memory function:
1. Sensory memory
2. Short-term memory or working memory
3. Long-term memory
Selection of stimuli is governed by Level of Interest.

Human Memory

Sensory memory

Buffers for stimuli received through senses

Iconic memory: visual stimuli

Echoic memory: aural stimuli
Haptic memory: tactile stimuli

Continuously overwritten

Transmitted from Sensory Memory to Working

Memory

Examples

During firework displays, moving sparklers leave a

persistent image

Concentration of mind on one out of a number of

competing stimuli or thoughts

As in cocktail party

Have you ever had someone ask you a question when

you are reading?

You ask them to repeat the question, only to realize that you
know what was asked after all.

Short Term Memory (STM)

Temporary recall of information

Reading a sentence, Performing an arithmetic operation etc.

Rapid access: order of 70ms

Rapid decay: order of 200ms

Limited capacity: 7 2 chunks

ChunkingInformationcanincreaseshorttermmemory
PatternAbstraction

Short-term memory (STM)

Examples

212348278493202

44 113 245 8920 (chunks with pattern, easier to remember)

HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET (chunks without pattern, not easy to
remember)

Long-term memory (LTM)

Repository for all our knowledge

Slow access ~ 1/10 second

Slow decay, if any
Huge or unlimited capacity

Long Term Memory

Howto..

EventsandExperiences

Facts

Long Term Memory

1. Episodic memory:

It represents our memory of events and experiences in a serial form.

It is from this memory that we can reconstruct the actual events that
took place at a given point in our lives.

2. Semantic memory:

It is a structured record of facts, concepts, skills that we have acquired.

It is structured in some way to allow access to information,
representation of relationships between pieces of information, and
inference.

Long-term Memory (cont.)

Memory models used to explain how we represent and store

knowledge
1. Semantic networks
2. Frames
3. Scripts
4. Production system

1. Semantic Networks

Represent the associations and relationships between items in memory.

2. Frames

Extend semantic nets to include structured, hierarchical information.

They represent knowledge items in a way which makes explicit the

relative importance of each piece of information.

Information organized in data structures.

Slots in structure instantiated with values for instance of data.

Type-subtype relationships.
DOG
Fixed
legs: 4
Default
diet: carniverous
sound: bark
Variable
size:
colour

COLLIE
Fixed
breed of: DOG
type: sheepdog
Default
size: 65 cm
Variable
colour

3. Scripts

Attempt to model the representation of stereotypical knowledge about situations.

Model of stereotypical information required to interpret situation.

Script has elements that can be instantiated with values for context.

Script for a visit to the vet

Entry conditions: dog ill
vet open
owner has money
Result:

dog better
owner poorer
vet richer

Props:

examination table
medicine
instruments

Roles:

vet examines
diagnoses
treats
owner brings dog in
pays
takes dog out

Scenes:
arriving at reception
waiting in room
examination
paying
Tracks:
dog needs medicine
dog needs operation

4. Production System

Representation of procedural knowledge.

Condition/action rules
if condition is matched
then use rule to determine action.

IF dog is wagging tail

THEN pat dog
IF dog is growling
THEN run away

Long Term Memory -- Processes

Storage

Forgetting

Retrieval

LTM - Storage of information

1. Rehearsal

Information moves from STM to LTM

Total Time hypothesis

Amount of information retained is proportional to rehearsal (or learning)

time

Distribution of practice effect

Optimized by spreading learning over time

2. Structure, Meaning and Familiarity

If information is Structured, Meaningful or Familiar, it becomes easier

to remember

Past,Faith,Idea,Cold,Value,Courtesy,Logic,Quiet,Ambitious
Boat,Tree,Cat,Child,Gun,Plate,Home,Table,Computer,Spoon

LTM - Forgetting
1. Decay

Information is lost gradually but very slowly

2. Interference

New information replaces old: Retroactive interference

e.g. if you change telephone numbers, learning your new number makes
it more difficult to remember your old number.

However sometimes the old may interfere with new: proactive

inhibition

e.g. when you find yourself driving to your old house rather than your
new one.

3. Emotion

We tend to remember highly emotive events rather than mundane

ones.

Do we ever actually forget anything or does it just become increasingly

difficult to access certain items from memory? (debatable)

LTM - Retrieval

Recall
Information reproduced from memory can be assisted by cues, e.g.
Categories, imagery

Act of reproducing a specific incident, fact or other item (from LTM)

Recalling where you were last weekend, fill-in-the-blank on exams

Recognition

Information gives knowledge that it has been seen before

Less complex than recall
People are more likely to recognize a suspect in a police line-up than to
provide an accurate description from recall memory
It is easier to answer multiple-choice questions than essay questions
because the correct answer may be recognized