Lecture 7 - Cognition

Question 1

TF: Understanding cognition provides knowledge about what users can and cannot be expected to do

Answer 1

True

Question 2

TF: Understanding cognition does not help identify and explain the nature and causes of problems that users encounter

Answer 2

False. It does

Question 3

TF: Understanding cognition does not provide theories, modelling tools, guidance, and methods to design better, more interactive products

Answer 3

False. It does

Question 4

What is cognition?

Answer 4

How our brain understands and processes the world around us

Question 5

What are the two ways of classifying cognition?

Answer 5

• Experiential and reflective cognition (Norman)
• Fast vs slow thinking (Kahneman)

Question 6

In UI design, do we use fast or slow thinking for the most part?

Answer 6

Fast thinking

Question 7

What is cognitive fluency?

Answer 7

How our mind evaluates how easy or hard a mental task is

Question 8

What stimulates cognitive fluency? (4)

Answer 8

• Familiarity (repetitive experiences)
• Clear characters (letters)
• Good mood
• Priming effects

Question 9

What is Jakob’s law?

Answer 9

Users prefer your site/app to work the same way as other sites they already know

Question 10

What 4 things allow your system to look familiar?

Answer 10

1. Typography
2. Space
3. Color
4. Content

Question 11

TF: Mood does not play a role in cognitive fluency

Answer 11

False. It does

Question 12

What is priming effect?

Answer 12

When exposure to a stimulus influences behaviour in subsequent tasks

Question 13

What feelings are generated by cognitive fluency? (4)

Answer 13

• Sensation of familiarity
• Sensation of truth
• Sensation of positivity
• Sensation of absence of effort

Question 14

TF: Attention involves audio and visual senses

Answer 14

True

Question 15

What allows us to focus on information that is relevant to what we are doing?

Answer 15

Attention

Question 16

What did the Prezi study find?

Answer 16

Found that the key for engaging content lies in providing a compelling narrative and stimulating, animated visuals

Question 17

Heavy multitaskers are more prone to what?

Answer 17

Being distracted, making errors

Question 18

How can you prevent inattentional blindness? (4)

Answer 18

• Provide users with only what they need
• Find out users’ goals
• Vary the type of content
• Pare it down

Question 19

What is Perception?

Answer 19

How information is acquired from the world and transformed into experiences

Question 20

What are the key principles of Gestalt systems? (4)

Answer 20

• Emergence
• Reification
• Multistability
• Invariance

Question 21

What does the Emergence principle define?

Answer 21

That the brain can create complex pictures from simple patterns

Question 22

TF: We tend to identify the whole before individual parts

Answer 22

True

Question 23

What does the Reification principle define?

Answer 23

Process where the brain fills in missing visual information to create a complete picture

Question 24

What does the Multi-stability principle define?

Answer 24

People will interpret ambiguous objects in more than one way
example

Question 25

What does the Invariance principle define?

Answer 25

Ability to recognize objects regardless of changes in their orientation, scale, rotation, lighting

Question 26

According to Gestalt psychologists, the fundamental principle of perceptual grouping is...

Answer 26

the law of Prägnanz

Question 27

What is the law of Prägnanz?

Answer 27

Law stating that people will perceive and interpret ambiguous/complex images in the simplest form possible

Question 28

"When an individual perceives an assortment of objects, they perceive objects that are close to each other as forming a group" describes which law?

Answer 28

Law of proximity (deals with how components are spaced)

Question 29

"When objects are located within the same closed region, we perceive them as being grouped together" describes which principle?

Answer 29

Principle of common regions (deals with visual boundaries, such as a rectangle/box)

Question 30

"Elements within an assortment of objects are perceptually grouped together if they are similar to each other" describes which law?

Answer 30

Law of similarity

Question 31

"Humans tend to perceive objects as complete rather than focusing on the gaps that the object might contain" describes which law?

Answer 31

Law of closure

Question 32

"We perceive objects as being symmetrical and forming around a centre point" describes which law?

Answer 32

Law of symmetry

Question 33

"Objects are perceived as lines that move along the smoothest path" describes which law?

Answer 33

Law of common fate

Question 34

"Aligned elements within a design are perceived as related and are visually grouped into a single, cohesive unit" describes which law

Answer 34

Law of continuity

Question 35

"Under some circumstances, visual stimuli are categorized according to past experience" describes which law?

Answer 35

Law of past experience

Question 36

"Whatever stands out visually will capture and hold the viewer's attention first" describes which principle?

Answer 36

Principle of focal point

Question 37

"The brain perceives objects as either foreground or background elements" describes which principle?

Answer 37

Principle of figure/ground

Question 38

What law states that people perceive objects near each other as a single unit?

Answer 38

Law of proximity

Question 39

What law states that we tend to groups objects that have similar shape, color, and shadows?

Answer 39

Law of similarity

Question 40

What law tells us that we perceive objects as being whole even when they’re incomplete?

Answer 40

Law of closure

Question 41

What law says that it’s perceptually pleasing to divide objects into an even number of symmetrical parts?

Answer 41

Law of symmetry

Question 42

What law states that we perceive objects as lines that move in the same direction. This is one reason adding animations to design can be beneficial.

Answer 42

Law of common fate