Chapter 05 - Memory

Question 1

three types of human memory

Answer 1

sensory, short-term, long-term

Question 2

Sensory memory

Answer 2

Persistence of a stimulus

Question 3

Sensory memory for vision

Answer 3

Duration of sensory memory can be lengthened by optimizing the stimulus- background /contrast.

Question 4

Short Term Memory

Answer 4

Working memory, place to hold information temporarily.

External sources- By way of the perceptual process.

Internal sources- The result of reasoning, decision making, and problem solving.

Question 5

Encoding

Answer 5

Information is encoded into a form that can be conveniently stored in human memory.

Some visual information is transferred into auditory form.

Question 6

Capacity and Duration

Answer 6

Can hold about 6 units of information (Chunks)

People forget longer messages sooner-
The shorter the code the better.

Try to limit interference.

Question 7

Rehearsing

Answer 7

Retains information in short-term memory.
Other activities should not interfere with the rehearsal process.

Divide longer strings of characters into groups of three or four to help rehearsal.

Ex. 217964831-> 217 964 831

Question 8

Serial Position

Answer 8

Errors will tend to occur in certain character positions more than others.

Question 9

7th Character

Answer 9

Auditory Stimuli – Last character tends to be recalled as well as the first character.

Visual Stimuli – Last character tends to be mistaken more often.

Question 10

Conclusions for Designers

Answer 10

Don’t require users to retain

even a small amount of information for over 20 seconds, if rehearsal is not possible.

Question 11

Long - term memory

Answer 11

Permanent memory storage. Relies heavily on organization. Learning, remembering, forgetting
forgotten information – lost access to it.

Question 12

Belief

Answer 12

People do not lose information permanently. Hypnosis

Question 13

Three operations take place related to remembering and forgetting

Answer 13

Encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Question 14

Encoding

Answer 14

Process of deciding how to classify information. Sometimes only the essence of what was sensed will be encoded.

Ex. Good movie, lousy dinner, nice guy

Question 15

Storage

Answer 15

Putting information into long-term memory.

Question 16

Retrieval

Answer 16

Search in different locations when trying to remember something.

Try to recall how the information was originally filed.

Question 17

Forgetting

Answer 17

May be due to a failure of any of these three operations.

E.G. original coding may be incorrect, info may be degraded during storage,
info may be difficult to retrieve
because searching is done in wrong place.

Question 18

Interference

Answer 18

Proactive interference – material learned prior to the learning of new material may interfere with the use of the new material in a performance situation.

Question 19

Retroactive interference

Answer 19

Exp. Learn task A, Learn task B, Perform A
Lotus 1-2-3, Excel,Lotus 1-2-3

Designers must find out what kind of responses have already been learned and then incorporate as much as possible the same kind of responses in the new system.

Question 20

Recall Versus Recognition

Answer 20

Two commonly used ways of measuring remembered information.

Recalling info is much more difficult than recognizing info.

Designer should make full use of this fact.

Question 21

Memory Skill

Answer 21

MNEMONICS – Conscious ways for helping to ensure the retention of material that would otherwise be forgotten.
Ex. String around your finger, complex visual imagery schemes

Cognitive performance aids- Require a person to either reduce or elaborate on information being received.

Question 22

Reductions

Answer 22

Frequently take the from of acronyms:
Homes- Great Lakes
Roygbiv- Colors of spectrum

Ex. 9 times table, string around your finger

Disadvantage – Reduce the information so much
that it is no longer possible to reconstruct the original.

Question 23

Elaboration

Answer 23

Adding information to make the material easier to remember.

Question 24

Verbal Clues

Answer 24

By taking greater advantage of meaning that already exists in words, phrases, or concepts.

Every good boy does fine – lines of the Treble Clef.

Question 25

Imagery Cues

Answer 25

A mental picture is created and viewed.

Man named S. memorized 50 numbers in 3 minutes.

Imagined a familiar street and he would place objects along the way.

Question 26

Design Implications

Answer 26

Designers should not put an unreasonable demand on human memory.

Designers should develop interfaces that support an acceptable level of remembering.

Provide facilitators (training, instructions, performance aids) that make full use of the MNEMONIC concept.