Lecture 4 - Interaction Challenges - Attention

Question 1

What is attention span?

Answer 1

amount of time spent concentrating on a task before becoming distracted.

Question 2

What do users often do when using a mobile device?

Answer 2

multi-task

Question 3

How do users multi-task in mobile usage contexts?

Answer 3

• e.g. walking to a destination
• e.g. communicating with other people
  When using mobile devices users will have spatial and social awareness.

Question 4

What do users have ?

Answer 4

Fragmented attention

Question 5

What is fragmented attention?

Answer 5

When 2 things are competing for our focus, so we can’t 100% focus on a single thing.

Question 6

What is situational impairment?

Answer 6

when the context restricts a person’s ability to interacting with a device

Question 7

Is fragmented attention the same as situational impairment?

Answer 7

Not quite, although they’re closely related. Situational impairment is when the context stops us from using our device. Fragmented attention might be a result of this as we can’t focus on the device, but may also focus on the context.

Question 8

Situational impairment is typically?

Answer 8

physical

Question 9

fragmented attention is typically?

Answer 9

mental

Question 10

How do people usually interact?

Answer 10

In short bursts

Question 11

What is the typical length of time for this attention burst?

Answer 11

4 to 14 seconds

Question 12

What is the process of switching our focus / attention between things?

Answer 12

attention switches

Question 13

Increasing attention on one thing …

Answer 13

decreases our focus on another

Question 14

Is attention finite?

Answer 14

YES

Question 15

Increasing attention demands for one thing

Answer 15

means decrease in focus on another thing

Question 16

What does attention span and amount of attention switches depend on?

Answer 16

the environment and hence context.

Question 17

Q : Consider the features and capabilities of a modern smartphone.
Do you think user attention in a mobile interaction scenario is
likely to be more or less fragmented than in 2005?

Answer 17

• most likely more fragmented, as there is a lot of apps we will switch between, switching our attention. Also devices are easier and faster to use, making it easier to get by on less focus. More work is also done remotely, which could lead to more fragmented interaction as there is more distractions.
• alternatively it could be less fragmented, as there are apps e.g. tiktok that can keep a user glued to the screen for hours. Another reason to support this side could be that apps have so much functionality that we don’t need to switch.

Question 18

Has people’s attention span changed since 2005?

Answer 18

It has more or less remained the same

Question 19

implications of fragmented attention?

Answer 19

• lack of visual attention
• change blindness
• task interruption
• fragmented input
• slow responses

Question 20

What is change blindness?

Answer 20

when someone has an issue with noticing things around them

Question 21

What is fragmented input?

Answer 21

Little bits of progress every now and then via interaction bursts.

Question 22

Why do we need to be aware of attention , attention span and how fragmented attention is?

Answer 22

As our apps and designs should avoids depleting attention resources and switching off

Question 23

What should we do when designing for fragmented attention?

Answer 23

• be clear (make things easy to find and minimize reading time)
• be patient (don’t require immediate or continued attention)
• make things simple (don’t present too much at once)
• potentially add multisensory elements (use other output (could be input) modalities to decrease visual demand)
• be flexible (use other input modalities to give convenient alternatives)