Lecture 2

Understanding Users
User Characteristics
 Overview
• What is cognition?
• What are users good and bad at?
• Describe how cognition has been applied
to interaction design
• Mental Models
• Internals classic theories of cognition
• More recent external theories of cognition
 Why do we need to understand
users?
• Interacting with technology is cognitive
• Need to take into account cognitive processes
involved and cognitive limitations of users
• Provides knowledge about what users can and
cannot be expected to do
• Identifies and explains the nature and causes of
problems users encounter
• Supply theories, modelling tools, guidance and
methods that can lead to the design of better
interactive products
 Cognitive processes

• Attention
• Perception and recognition
• Memory
• Learning & Mental Models
• Reading, speaking and listening
• Problem-solving, planning, reasoning and
decision-making
 Attention
• Selecting things to concentrate on at a
point in time from the mass of stimuli
around us
• Allows us to focus on information that is
relevant to what we are doing
• Involves audio and/or visual senses
• Information at the interface should be
structured to capture users’ attention, e.g.
use perceptual boundaries (windows),
colour, reverse video, sound and flashing
lights
Activity: Find the price of a double room at the
Holiday Inn in Bradley
Activity: Find the price for a double room at the
Quality Inn in Columbia
 Activity
• Tullis (1987) found that the two screens
produced quite different results
– 1st screen - took an average of 5.5 seconds to search
– 2nd screen - took 3.2 seconds to search
• Why, since both displays have the same
density of information (31%)?
• Spacing
– In the 1st screen the information is bunched up
together, making it hard to search
– In the 2nd screen the characters are grouped into
vertical categories of information making it easier
 Design implications for
attention
• Make information salient when it needs attending
to
• Use techniques that make things stand out like
color, ordering, spacing, underlining, sequencing
and animation
• Avoid cluttering the interface with too much
information even if the software allows it
An example of over-use of
graphics
 Perception

• How information is acquired from the world

and transformed into experiences

• Obvious implication is to design

representations that are readily perceivable,
e.g.
– Text should be legible
– Icons should be easy to distinguish and
read
Is color contrast good? Find
italian
Are borders and white space
better? Find french
 Activity
• Weller (2004) found people took less time
to locate items for information that was
grouped
– using a border (2nd screen) compared with
using color contrast (1st screen)
• Some argue that too much white space on
web pages is detrimental to search
– Makes it hard to find information
• Do you agree?
Which is easiest to read and
why?

What is the time? What is the time?

What is the time? What is the time?

What is the time?

 Design implications

– Icons should enable users to readily

distinguish their meaning
– Bordering and spacing are effective visual
ways of grouping information
– Sounds should be audible and distinguishable
– Speech output should enable users to
distinguish between the set of spoken words
– Text should be legible and distinguishable
from the background
– Feedback should allow users to recognize and
distinguish different meanings
 Memory
There are three types of memory function:

Sensory memories

Short-term memory or working memory

Long-term memory

Selection of stimuli governed by level of arousal.

 sensory memory
• Buffers for stimuli received through
senses
– iconic memory: visual stimuli
– echoic memory: aural stimuli
– haptic memory: tactile stimuli
• Examples
– “sparkler” trail
– stereo sound
• Continuously overwritten
 Short-term memory (STM)
• Scratch-pad for temporary recall

– rapid access ~ 70ms

– rapid decay ~ 200ms

– limited capacity - 7± 2 chunks

 Examples

212348278493202

0121 414 2626

HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET

The problem with the classic
‘72’

• George Miller’s (1956) theory of how

much information people can remember
• People’s immediate memory capacity is
very limited
• Many designers think this is useful
finding for interaction design
• But…
 What some designers get up to…

• Present only 7 options on a menu

• Display only 7 icons on a tool bar
• Have no more than 7 bullets in a list
• Place only 7 items on a pull down menu
• Place only 7 tabs on the top of a website
page
– But this is wrong? Why?
 Why?
• Inappropriate application of the theory
• People can scan lists of bullets, tabs,
menu items for the one they want
• They don’t have to recall them from
memory having only briefly heard or
seen them
• Sometimes a small number of items is
good
• But depends on task and available
screen estate
 Long-term memory (LTM)
• Repository for all our knowledge
– slow access ~ 1/10 second
– slow decay, if any
– huge or unlimited capacity

• Two types (Encoding)

– episodic – serial memory of events
– semantic – structured memory of facts,
concepts, skills

semantic LTM is derived from episodic LTM

 Long-term memory (cont.)
• Semantic memory structure
– provides access to information
– represents relationships between bits of information
– supports inference

• Model: semantic network

– inheritance – child nodes inherit properties of parent
nodes
– relationships between bits of information explicit
– supports inference through inheritance
LTM - semantic network
 LTM - retrieval
recall
– information reproduced from memory can be
assisted by cues, e.g. categories, imagery

recognition
– information gives knowledge that it has been
seen before
– less complex than recall - information is cue
 Activity

• Try to remember the dates of your

grandparents’ birthday
• Try to remember the cover of the last
two DVDs you bought or rented
• Which was easiest? Why?
• People are very good at remembering
visual cues about things
– e.g. the color of items, the location of objects and
marks on an object
• They find it more difficult to learn and
remember arbitrary material
– e.g. birthdays and phone numbers
 Recognition versus recall
• Command-based interfaces require users
to recall from memory a name from a
possible set of 100s
• GUIs provide visually-based options that
users need only browse through until they
recognize one
• Web browsers, MP3 players, etc., provide
lists of visited URLs, song titles etc., that
support recognition memory
 Memory
• Involves first encoding and then retrieving
knowledge
• We don’t remember everything - involves
filtering and processing what is attended to
• Design Implications:
– Context is important in affecting our
memory (i.e. where, when)
– We recognize things much better than
being able to recall things
 Processing in memory
• Encoding is first stage of memory
– determines which information is attended to in the
environment and how it is interpreted
• The more attention paid to something…
• The more it is processed in terms of thinking
about it and comparing it with other knowledge…
• The more likely it is to be remembered
– e.g. when learning about HCI, it is much better to reflect
upon it, carry out exercises, have discussions with
others about it, and write notes than just passively read
a book, listen to a lecture or watch a video about it
 Context is important
• Context affects the extent to which
information can be subsequently retrieved
• Sometimes it can be difficult for people to
recall information that was encoded in a
different context:
– “You are on a train and someone comes up to you and
says hello. You don’t recognize him for a few moments
but then realize it is one of your neighbours. You are
only used to seeing your neighbour in the hallway of
your apartment block and seeing him out of context
makes him difficult to recognize initially”
Personal information management
• Personal information management is a growing
problem for many users
– vast numbers of documents, images, music files, video
clips, emails, attachments, bookmarks, etc.,
– where and how to save them all, then remembering
what they were called and where to find them again
– naming most common means of encoding them
– but can be difficult to remember, especially when have
1000s and 1000s
– How might such a process be facilitated taking
into account people’s memory abilities?
 Personal information
management
• Memory involves 2 processes
– recall-directed and recognition-based
scanning
• File management systems should be
designed to optimize both kinds of
memory processes
– e.g. Search box and history list
• Help users encode files in richer ways
– Provide them with ways of saving files using colour,
flagging, image, flexible text, time stamping, tags,
etc
Is Apple’s Spotlight search tool
any good?
 Memory aids
• SenseCam developed by Microsoft
Research Labs
• a wearable device that intermittently
takes photos without any user
intervention while worn
• digital images taken are stored and
revisited using special software
• Has been found to improve people’s
memory, suffering from Alzheimers
SenseCam
 Design implications
• Don’t overload users’ memories with
complicated procedures for carrying out
tasks
• Design interfaces that promote recognition
rather than recall
• Provide users with various ways of
encoding information to help them
remember
– e.g. categories, tags, color, flagging, time
stamping
 Learning
• How to learn to use a computer-
based application
• Using a computer-based application
to understand a given topic
• People find it hard to learn by
following instructions in a manual
•prefer to learn by doing
 Learning (Con.)
• Humans use two types of learning:
– Procedural – acquiring skills how to do
something (Practice).
– Declarative – acquisition of knowledge about
something (facts, figures, models) (Theory).
• Sub-processes for learning:
– Understanding concepts and rules of action.
– Remembering of data, objects, and
relationships among them.
– Acquisition of motor skills and automation of
control behaviors.
 Mental models
• Users develop an understanding of a system
through learning about and using it
• Knowledge is sometimes described as a mental
model:
– How to use the system (what to do next)
– What to do with unfamiliar systems or unexpected
situations (how the system works)

• People make inferences using mental models of

how to carry out tasks
 Mental models
• Craik (1943) described mental models
as:
– internal constructions of some aspect of
the external world enabling predictions to
be made

• Involves unconscious and conscious

processes
– images and analogies are activated

• Deep versus shallow models

– e.g. how to drive a car and how it works
 Design implications
• Design interfaces that encourage
exploration
• Design interfaces that constrain and
guide learners
• Dynamically linking concepts and
representations can facilitate the
learning of complex material
 Problem-solving, planning,
reasoning and decision-making

• All involves reflective cognition

– e.g. thinking about what to do, what the
options are, and the consequences
• Often involves conscious processes, discussion
with others (or oneself), and the use of
artifacts
– e.g. maps, books, pen and paper
• May involve working through different
scenarios and deciding which is best option
 External cognition
• Concerned with explaining how we interact
with external representations (e.g. maps,
notes, diagrams)
• What are the cognitive benefits and what
processes involved
• How they extend our cognition
• What computer-based representations can we
develop to help even more?
 Externalizing to reduce
memory load
• Diaries, reminders, calendars, notes, shopping
lists, to-do lists
– written to remind us of what to do

• Post-its, piles, marked emails

– where placed indicates priority of what to do

• External representations:
– Remind us that we need to do something (e.g. to buy
something for mother’s day)
– Remind us of what to do (e.g. buy a card)
– Remind us when to do something (e.g. send a card by a
certain date)
 Computational offloading

• When a tool is used in conjunction with an

external representation to carry out a
computation (e.g. pen and paper)

• Try doing the two sums below (a) in your

head, (b) on a piece of paper and c) with a
calculator.

– 234 x 456 =??

– CCXXXIIII x CCCCXXXXXVI = ???

• Which is easiest and why? Both are identical

sums
 Annotation and cognitive
tracing
• Annotation involves modifying existing
representations through making marks
– e.g. crossing off, ticking, underlining

• Cognitive tracing involves externally manipulating

items into different orders or structures
– e.g. playing Scrabble, playing cards
 Design implication

• Provide external representations at the

interface that reduce memory load and
facilitate computational offloading

e.g. Information
visualizations have
been designed to
allow people to make
sense and rapid
decisions about
masses of data
 Summary
• Cognition involves several processes including
attention, memory, perception and learning
• The way an interface is designed can greatly affect
how well users can perceive, attend, learn and
remember how to do their tasks
• Theoretical frameworks, such as mental models
and external cognition, provide ways of
understanding how and why people interact with
products

• This can lead to thinking about how to design

better products
 Emotional Interaction

• Emotions and the user experience

• Expressive interfaces
– how the ‘appearance’ of an interface can affect users

• Frustrating interfaces
– what are they and how to reduce them
• Persuasive technologies and behavioral
change
– how technologies can be designed to change people’s
attitudes and behavior

• Anthropomorphism
– The pros and cons
 Emotions and the user
experience
• HCI has traditionally been about designing
efficient and effective systems
• Now more about how to design interactive
systems that make people respond in certain
ways
– e.g. to be happy, to be trusting, to learn, to be
motivated
• Emotional interaction is concerned with how we
feel and react when interacting with technologies
 Emotional interaction
• What makes us happy, sad, annoyed, anxious,
frustrated, motivated, delirious and so on
– translating this into different aspects of the user
experience
• Why people become emotionally attached to
certain products (e.g. virtual pets)
• Can social robots help reduce loneliness and
improve wellbeing?
• How to change human behavior through the use
of emotive feedback
 Expressive interfaces
• Provide reassuring feedback that can be both
informative and fun
• But can also be intrusive, causing people to get
annoyed and even angry
• Color, icons, sounds, graphical elements and
animations are used to make the ‘look and feel’
of an interface appealing
– conveys an emotional state
• In turn this can affect the usability of an interface
– people are prepared to put up with certain aspects of an
interface (e.g. slow download rate) if the end result is
appealing and aesthetic
Which one do you prefer?
 Marcus and Teasley study
• Marcus (1992) proposed interfaces for
different user groups
– Left dialog box was designed for white American
females
– Who “prefer a more detailed presentation, curvilinear
shapes and the absence of some of the more brutal terms
... favored by male software engineers.”
– Right dialog box was designed for European adult
male intellectuals
– who like “suave prose, a restrained treatment of
information density, and a classical approach to font
selection”
• Teasley et al (1994) found this not to be true
– the European dialog box was preferred by all and was
considered most appropriate for all users
– round dialog box was strongly disliked by everyone
 Friendly interfaces
• Microsoft pioneered friendly interfaces for
technophobes - ‘At home with Bob’
software
• 3D metaphors based on familiar places
(e.g. living rooms)
• Agents in the shap of pets (e.g. bunny,
dog) were included to talk to the user
– Make users feel more at ease and comfortable
Bob
 Clippy
• Why was Clippy disliked
by so many?
• Was it annoying,
distracting,
patronising or other?
• What sort of user
liked Clippy?
 Frustrating interfaces
• Many causes:
– When an application doesn’t work properly or
crashes
– When a system doesn’t do what the user wants
it to do
– When a user’s expectations are not met
– When a system does not provide sufficient
information to enable the user to know what to
do
– When error messages pop up that are vague
– When the appearance of an interface is garish,
noisy, gimmicky
– When a system requires users to carry out too
many steps to perform a task
 Persuasive technologies and
behavioral change
• Interacive computing systems deliberately
designed to change people’s attitudes and
behaviors (Fogg, 2003)
• A diversity of techniques now used to
change what they do or think
– Pop-up ads, warning messages, reminders,
prompts, personalized messages,
recommendations, Amazon 1-click
– Commonly referred to as nudging
 Nintendo’s Pocket Pikachu
• Changing bad habits and improving well
being
– Designed to motivate children
to be more physically active on
a regular basis
– owner of the digital pet that
‘lives’ in the device is required
to walk, run, or jump
– If owner does not exercise the virtual pet
becomes angry and refuses to play anymore
 How effective?
• Is the use of novel forms of interactive
technologies (e.g., the combination of
sensors and dynamically updated
information) that monitor, nag, or send
personalized messages intermittently to a
person more effective at changing a
person’s behavior than non-interactive
methods, such as the placement of
warning signs, labels, or ads in prominent
positions?
 sustainable HCI: Energy
reduction
(Mankoff et al, 2008; DiSalvo et al, 2010)

www.id-book.com 64
 Phishing and trust
• Web used to deceive people
into parting with personal details
– e.g. Paypal, eBay and won the lottery letters
• Allows Internet fraudsters
to access their bank accounts
and draw money from them
• Many vulnerable people
fall for it
• The art of deception is centuries old
but internet allows ever more
ingeniuos ways to trick people
 Anthropomorphism

• Attributing human-like qualities to inanimate

objects (e.g. cars, computers)

• Well known phenomenon in advertising

– Dancing butter, drinks, breakfast cereals

• Much exploited in human-computer interaction

– Make user experience more enjoyable,
more motivating, make people feel at ease,
reduce anxiety
 Criticism of anthropomorphism
• Deceptive, make people feel anxious, inferior or
stupid

• Studies have shown that personalized feedback

is considered to be less honest and makes users
feel less responsible for their actions (e.g.
Quintanar, 1982)
– Now Chris, that’s not right. You can do better
than that. Try again.” X
– “Incorrect. Try again.” √
 Virtual characters

• Appearing on our screens in the form of:

– Sales agents, characters in videogames, learning
companions, wizards, pets, newsreaders

• Provides a persona that is welcoming, has

personality and makes user feel involved
with them
 Disadvantages

• Can lead people into false sense of belief,

enticing them to confide personal secrets with
chatterbots
• Annoying and frustrating
– e.g. Clippy
• May not be trustworthy
– virtual shop assistants?
 What makes a virtual agent
believable?

• Believability refers to the extent to which

users come to believe an agent’s intentions
and personality
• Appearance is very important
– Are simple cartoon-like characters or more realistic
characters, resembling the human form more believable?
• Behavior is very important
– How an agent moves, gestures and refers to objects on
the screen
– Exaggeration of facial expressions and gestures to show
underlying emotions (c.f. animation industry)
 Implications
• Should we, therefore, create products that
adapt according to people’s different
emotional states?
– When people are feeling angry should an
interface be more attentive and informative
than when they are happy?
• Is Norman right?
– designers “can get away with more” for
products intended to be used during leisure
time than those designed for serious tasks
 Summary
• Emotional interaction is concerned with how
interactive systems make people respond in
emotional ways
• Well-designed interfaces can elicit good feelings in
users
• Expressive interfaces can provide reassuring
feedback
• Badly designed interfaces make people angry and
frustrated
• Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human
qualities to objects
• An increasingly popular form of anthropomorphism
is to create interface agents and robot pets