THE HUMAN

• Information stored in memory is sent/received through visual, auditory, haptic, movement sensory, short-term, long-term
• Emotion influences human capabilities
• There are two stages in vision: physical reception of stimulus and processing and interpretation of stimulus
• The eye is the mechanism for receiving light and transforming it into electrical energy
• The retina contains rods for low light vision and cones for color vision
• Visual angle indicates how much of a view object occupies and relates to size and distance from the eye
• Visual acuity is the ability to perceive detail and is limited
• Brightness is a subjective reaction to levels of light and is affected by the luminance of the object
• Color is made up of hue, intensity, saturation, and cones are sensitive to color wavelengths
• The visual system compensates for movement, changes in luminance, and uses context to resolve ambiguity
• Optical illusions can occur due to overcompensation and are characterized by a visual percept that appears to differ from reality
• Reading involves saccades and fixations, and word shape is important for recognition
• Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language
• Pragmatics deals with language in use and the contexts in which it is used
• Semantics is concerned with meaning in linguistics and logic
• Touch involves receptors for heat, cold, pain, pressure, and awareness of body position affects comfort and performance
• Hearing provides important feedback about the environment and is received via receptors in the skin
• Movement time is dependent on age, fitness, and the type of stimulus
• There are 3 types of memory function: sensory memory, short-term memory, long-term memory
• Sensory memory acts as a buffer for stimuli received through the senses and is continuously overwritten
• Short-term memory acts as a scratch-pad for temporary recall with rapid access and decay, and limited capacity
• Episodic memory represents our memory of experiences and specific events in time in a serial form
• Long-Term Memory (LTM) Semantic Memory:

  • Structured record of facts, meanings, concepts, and knowledge about the external world acquired
  • Refers to general factual knowledge shared with others and independent of personal experience and context
  • Includes types of food, capital cities, social customs, functions of objects, vocabulary, understanding of mathematics, etc.
  • Much of semantic memory is abstract and relational, associated with the meaning of verbal symbols
• Long-Term Memory (LTM) Rehearsal:

  • Information moves from Short-Term Memory (STM) to LTM
  • Total Time Hypothesis: Amount retained is proportional to rehearsal time
  • Distribution of Practice Effect: Optimized by spreading learning over time
  • Structure, Meaning, and Familiarity make information easier to remember
• LTM - Storage of Information Decay:

  • Information is lost gradually but very slowly
  • Interference: New information replaces old (retroactive interference) and old may interfere with new (proactive interference)
  • Memory is selective and affected by emotion, can subconsciously choose to forget
• LTM - Forgetting:

  • Recall: Information reproduced from memory can be assisted by cues like categories and imagery
  • Recognition: Information gives knowledge that it has been seen before, less complex than recall as information is a cue
• LTM - Retrieval Thinking: Reasoning & Problem Solving:

  • Process of using knowledge to draw conclusions or infer something new
  • Types of Reasoning: Inductive, Deductive, Abductive
  • Inductive Reasoning: Generalize from cases seen to cases unseen
  • Deductive Reasoning: Progress from general ideas to specific conclusions
  • Abductive Reasoning: Reasoning from event to cause, unreliable and can lead to false explanations
• Problem Solving:

  • Process of finding solutions to unfamiliar tasks using knowledge
  • Gestalt Theory: Problem solving involves insight, restructuring of the problem, and functional fixedness
  • Problem Space Theory: Problem space comprises problem states, problem solving involves generating states using legal operators, heuristics may be employed
  • Analogy: Novel problems in new domain use knowledge of similar problems from similar domain
  • Skill Acquisition: Chunking information to optimize short-term memory, conceptual grouping of problems
• Types of Error:

  • Slips: Right intention but failed to do it right, causes include poor physical skills and inattention
  • Mistakes: Wrong intention due to incorrect understanding, humans create mental models to explain behavior
• Emotion:

  • James-Lange Theory: Emotion is interpretation of physiological response to stimuli
  • Cannon Theory: Emotion is psychological response to stimuli
  • Schacter-Singer Theory: Emotion is result of evaluation of physiological responses in the context of the situation
  • Emotion involves cognitive and physical responses to stimuli, affect influences responses to situations
• Individual Differences:

  • Long Term: Sex, physical and intellectual abilities
  • Short Term: Effect of stress or fatigue
  • Changing: Age
  • Design implications: Stress affects problem solving difficulty, relaxed users are more forgiving, aesthetically pleasing interfaces increase positive affect
• Thank you!