Human Abilities Flashcards
Explain how human colour vision works. What does it imply for the design of user interfaces?
It works by having cones and rods, the rods which are meant for black/white vision & moving objects are at the side of the eye and cones which sees colours are at the centre of the eye.
In terms of user interface, it implies that we should not use saturated colours as it tires eyes out easily, don’t use blue for text or small objects, avoid red or green in the periphery.
Explain what color blindness or color deficiency is. How does it affect the design of user interfaces?
Colour blindness or colour deficiency is the lack of photopigments allowing people to see red/green colours.
Certain colour combinations should be avoided, use text labels for key components such as images and buttons.
What is the Model Human Processor? Why is it useful in the field of HCI?
The MHP is an abstract way of thinking about how the human’s cognitive abilities work. It is useful in the field of HCI in order to make predictions of human performance, or compare user interfaces.
What is cognitive load? How does cognitive chunking improve cognitive load?
Cognitive load is the amount of information the memory can hold at a time, and is typically split into germane, extraneous and intrinsic load.
Typically, we tend to want to reduce the extraneous load of the users as this is one factor that can be controlled. *Extraneous load is generated by the manner in which info is presented to learners and is reduced by instructional design
Thus by incorporating cognitive chunking, one can group the information into meaningful groups and increases the amount of information per chunk and reduces cognitive load.
What is cognitive chunking?
- Visual separation
– Use whitespace to separate group information - Visual differentiation
– Change visual characteristics of groups - Visual progression
– Rely on visual and cognitive cues to guide order in which users internalise information
What are the main effects of cognitive load?
Split attention: the unnecessary splitting of attention when trying to understand material across multiple sources
Redundancy: the presentation of information in a format with both diagrams and accompanying text (information may be unnecessary or redundant)
Interactivity: instructional content is composed of ‘elements’; these elements may be said to interact if there is a relationship between them
What are the implications of the limits of human abilities? How do you overcome these limits during UI design?
Implication 1: One implication of the limits of human abilities is cognitive load. If one were to overload the user’s working memory with too much information, they might not be able to remember it.
Solution 1: To overcome cognitive load, we can use cognitive chunking to break down information into meaningful groups.
Implication 2: Another implication of the human abilities is the lack of photopigments to discern red/green colours.
Solution 2: Instead of relying solely on red/green colour distinctions, use alternative methods to convey information, such as patterns, labels, or text. This makes content more accessible to those with colour vision deficiencies.
What are the implications of the ability limits due to old age? How do you overcome these limits during UI design?
Implication 1: Older individuals may experience reduced perception of blue colours compared to younger individuals due to age-related changes in vision.
Solution 1: Instead of relying heavily on blue, use alternative colours that are more distinguishable for older individuals.
Implication 2: Age-related hearing loss can make it challenging for older users to understand audio content with higher frequencies.
Solution 2: Offer captions or transcripts for audio and video content. Provide volume controls and options for adjusting sound settings.
What are the implications of the limitations of memory? How do you overcome these limits of memory during UI design?
Due to the limitations of memory, it may affect the ability to process information and thus we should utilise cognitive chunking.
Cognitive chunking aids in the limitations, as by grouping relevant information in meaningful group, it is easier to absorb/understand the information thus reducing overall cognitive load.
Explain perceptual causality and give some examples.
Perceptual causality is how our brains perceive two events and what is the linkage between them. Some examples are a ball hitting another ball, causing the second ball to move, or in terms of HCI, pressing a button and a perceivable action occurring.
Implication of Perceptual Causality: In order to create the perception of causality, it needs to be sufficiently responsive.
