How People See Flashcards
Explain why what you see isn’t what you brain gets and what the takeways of this are as a designer?
The brain receives a huge amount of sensory input that it needs to process quickly.
- To acheive this it makes shortcuts. Guesses based on past experience.
- Optical illusions show us the errors
- You see triangles but they are not really there
- Shapes and colors can infuence what people see, or think they see. (figure below shows how color can draw attention to one message over another)
- Takeaway - What you think people are going to see on your webpage may not be what they do see. it might depend on their background, knowledge, familiarity with what they are looking at, and expectations.
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- Takeaway - You may be able to persuade people to see things in a different way, depending on how they are presented.
What is the difference between peripheral and central vision and which is used more - and why?
- Central vision is used to see detail and recognise objects
- Peripheral vision is more important that central vision in understanding the world around us.
- Peripheral vision is important for getting the gist of a scene.
Which type of vision is quicker to recognise danger?
Peripheral vision takes roughly half the time to react to fearful stimuli than central vision. (apprx 80ms)
Give three reasons why considering peripheral vision is important in design?
- People usually decide what a page is about based on a quick glimpse through their peripheral vision.
- Make sure the information in the periphery communicates clearly the purpose of the design.
- If you want users to concentrate on a certain area - don’t use distracting animation elsewhere.
Ref: See p.6 - 100 things Dimitri Bayle (2009)
What is the benefit of the brain recognising patterns?
People identify objects by recognizing patterns.
Patterns enable you to make quick sense of the sensory input that comes to you every second. Your eyes and brain want to create patterns even if they are not there.
(e.g. two close dots interpreted as 4 groups instead of 8 individuals).
Explain the Geon theory of object recognition
- As opposed to storing an image of everything ever seen. The brain recognises basic shapes or geons (about 24) in what you look at.
- They forms the building blocks of all objects we see and identify.
ref: Irving Biederman - 1985 (geons)
When is the visual cortex most active?
When you are imagining things.
The theory is that the cortex has to work harder to since the stimulus is not actually present.
ref -Solso 2005
What are the three main takeaways for making a design easy to process and recognise?
- Use patterns as much as possible, since people will automatically be looking for them. Use grouping and white space to create patterns.
- Use a simple geometric drawing of an object. This will make it easier to recognize the underlying geons, making the object easier and faster to recognise.
- Favour 2D elements over 3D ones. The eyes communicate what they see as a 2D object. 3D representations may actually slow down recognition and comprehension.
What is the name of the part of the brain that is dedciated to recognising faces?
fusiform face area (FFA)
The FFA allows faces to bypass the brain’s usual interpretive channels and helps us to identify them more quickly than objects.
The FFA is near the amygdala the brains emotional center.
What disadvantage do autistic people have in regard to recognising faces?
Autistic people dont use their FFA when looking at faces. They use regular visual cortex that is used for recognising objects.
what effect do faces have on people and what are the two takeways in regards to design.
People recognize and react to faces faster than anything else on the page. (at least by those who are not autistic)
Faces looking right at people will have the greatest emotional impact on a web page.
If a face on a webpage looks at another spot or product on the page, people will also tend to look at the product. This doesn’t necessarily mean they paid attention to it, just that they physically looked at it.
How do we generally see objects in our head and what is this known as?
Most people imagine/draw objects tilted and at a slight angle above.
It seems to be a universal trait that we all see from this canonical perspective.
NB. The canonical perspective is not the view you see an item from most.
ref steven palmer (1981)
Why is the canonical perspective important in relation to design?
People recognize a drawing or object faster and remember it better if it’s shown in the canonical perspective.
If you have icons, draw them from a canonical perspective.
What do people scan pages based on and why? What are the takeways from this?
Past experiences & Expectations
People have a mental model of what they want to see and where they want to see it based on products or sites they use regularly.
- Put the most important information in the top third of the screen or in the middle.
- Avoid putting anything important at the edges, since people tend not to look there.
- Design the screen or page so that people can move in their normla reading pattern. Avoid a pattern where people have to bounce back and forth.
What are perceived affordances? Look for one around you as an example.
If you want people to take action on an object, in real life or on a screen. You need to make sure they can easily perceive, figure out and interpret what they can and should do with it. People automatically look for objects to help them perform a task
If an object doesnt function in the way a user expects, it is frustrating.
e.g a door handle. Because of its shape, you’ll tend to grab and pull it down. If that’s the way it works you’d say it is well design and has a clear perceived affordance.
