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Chapter 2:- Human in HCI

Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
 The Human

The central character in any discussion of interactive system, the human.

 Human/the user is the one whom computer systems are designed to assist.

 User requirements should be our first priority.

 Needs a look at human cognitive psychology.

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
 Analogy
What is the difference Between? Human mind versus computer information processing
system?
 Human
• Input –output
• Memory
• Information Processing( intelligent )
» Problem solving ,learning and errors

• Environmental factors
 Human information input-output
 Information is received and responses given via a number of input and output
channels:
1. Visual channel
2. Auditory channel
3. Haptic channel
4. Movement
 Visual channel :-Vision/the human eye/sight/
Primary source of information for human.
 Two stages in vision
1. The physical reception of the stimulus from the outside world,
2. The processing and interpretation of that stimulus(internal visual processing).
Vision begins with light.
 The human eye receives light and transforms into electrical signal.

 Light is reflected from objects in the world and their image is focused upside down

on the back of the eye/retina/.

 Eye components
1. Cornea:
 Outermost lens,layer at the front of the eye.
 The cornea helps your eye to focus light so you can see clearly.
 The cornea contributes between 65-75 percent of the eye's total focusing power.
2. Retina:
Retina is light sensitive(light entry control) and contains two types of photoreceptor: rods and
cones.
 Rods: Rods are highly sensitive to low light and therefore allow us to see under a low
level of illumination, Temporarily blindness when we move from darkened room into
sunlight
 Cons:
• Tolerate more light and it is for Color vision
• Approximately 6 million cones, mainly concentrated on the fovea, a small area of the
retina on which images are fixated.
Eye components
Retina contains a ganglion cells(nerve cell): ..visual cortex
• (brain!) detect pattern and movement
» There are two types:

o X-cells: concerned with fovea and are responsible for the early detection of
pattern.
o Y-cells : More widely distributed in the retina and are responsible for the
early detection of movement.
 How we perceive size ,depth , brightness and color ?
» This is very crucial to design an effective user interface for HCI!!!!!
 Interpreting the signal
Size and depth
 How the eye perceives size ,depth and distance?
 Visual angle indicates how much of view object occupies
• Further distance less visual angel
• Less distance more visual angel
 Visual acuity(sharpness/ keenness) is ability to perceive detail
 Familiar objects perceived as constant size (in spite of changes in visual angle when far
away)
Brightness
 subjective reaction to levels of light

 affected by luminance (amount of light emitted by an object)

 measured by just noticeable difference

 visual acuity increases with luminance as does flicker

 Interpreting the signal (cont)
Colour
 made up of

• hue(wavelength of the light)

• intensity(brightness of the colour)
• saturation(amount of whiteness in the color)
 cones sensitive to colour wavelengths

 blue acuity is lowest

 8% males and 1% females colour blind

The visual system compensates(Make amends) for:

 movement

 changes in luminance.

Context is used to resolve ambiguity

 Interpreting the signal (cont)
What is optical illusion?
 An optical illusion is a phenomenon in which our perception of reality differs from the
actual physical properties of the objects or scenes we are observing.
 These illusions occur due to the complex ways in which our brains interpret and process
visual information.
 Optical illusions sometimes occur due to over compensation
 Some common types of optical illusions include:
Geometrical illusions: These illusions involve geometric shapes and patterns that appear
distorted or misleading.
Ambiguous illusions: These illusions involve images or figures that can be interpreted in
more than one way.
Motion illusions: These illusions create the perception of movement or motion in static
images
Color illusions: These illusions involve the manipulation of color perception.
 6-12
Optical Illusions

the Ponzo illusion the Muller Lyer illusion

The Muller Lyer illusion:-two lines of the same length appear to be of different lengths.
The Ponzo illusion:-identical lines appears distorted due to the pair of converging lines
that follow them.
Ch-6, Dynamic Programming and Greedy Technique
 Questions
 In which part of retina does best color vision?
 Why?

 Read about color blindness ? And how it happens?

 Discuss Capabilities and limitations of Human visual processing?

 Reading
 Reading refers to the cognitive process of extracting meaning from written or printed text
 Several stages:
 visual pattern perceived

 decoded using internal representation of language

 interpreted using knowledge of syntax,semantics,pragmatics

 The eye moves backwards over the text as well as forwards, in what are known as

regressions.
• If the text is complex there will be more regressions.
 Reading involves saccades/ jerky movements /rapid movement/ and fixations
 saccade - a rapid movement of the eye between fixation points
 fixations is a brief pauses
 Perception occurs during fixations
 Word shape is important to recognition
 Auditory channel:- Hearing
 Sound is a form of energy that is produced by vibrating objects and transmitted through
a medium, such as air, water, or solids.
 Provides information about environment: distances, directions, objects etc.
 Physical apparatus:
Outer ear:- protects inner and amplifies sound
Middle ear:- transmits sound waves as vibrations to inner ear
Inner ear:-chemical transmitters are released and cause impulses in auditory nerve
 Humans can hear frequencies from 20Hz to 15kHz
 Auditory system filters sounds
 can attend to sounds over background noise.

• For example: the cocktail party phenomenon.

 Hearing
The characteristics of sound can be described by its properties, including:
1. Frequency: It refers to the number of vibrations or cycles per second and determines
the pitch of the sound. Higher frequency sounds are perceived as higher-pitched, while
lower frequency sounds are perceived as lower-pitched.
2. Amplitude: It relates to the intensity or loudness of the sound and corresponds to the
energy carried by the sound wave. Higher amplitudes result in louder sounds, while
lower amplitudes result in softer sounds.
3. Timbre: It refers to the tone quality or unique characteristics of a sound. It helps
distinguish between sounds produced by different sources, such as musical instruments
or human voices.
 Haptic channel:- Touch(haptic perception)
 Provides important feedback about environment.
 May be key sense for someone who is visually impaired!!
 Stimulus received via receptors in the skin:
 thermo receptors – heat and cold
 nociceptors – painful stimuli
 mechanoreceptors – pressure(some instant,some continuous)
 Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers.
 Kinesthesis - The ability to feel movements of the limbs and body
 awareness of body position
 affects comfort and performance.
 Movement
 Time taken to respond to stimulus: reaction time + movement time
 Movement time dependent on age, fitness etc.
 Reaction time - dependent on stimulus type:
 visual ~ 200ms
 auditory ~ 150 ms
 pain ~ 700ms
• Increasing reaction time decreases accuracy in the unskilled operator but not in the skilled
operator.
 Fitts' Law describes the time taken to hit a screen target:
Mt = a + b log2(D/S + 1)
where:a and b are empirically determined constants Mt is movement time,D is Distance,S is
Size of target
 Targets as large as possible distances as small as possible
 Cognitive
What is psychology/cognitive psychology/?
 Understanding peoples capabilities and limitations in order to design something for

some one.
E.g. usable interactive computing
 How humans receive, perceive information, how they manipulate objects physically.

how can we help them?

Cognitive processes
• Attention
• Perception and recognition
• Memory
• 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 to focus on information that is relevant to what we are doing
• Involves audio and/or visual senses
• Focussed and divided attention enables us to be selective in terms of the mass of
competing stimuli but limits our ability to keep track of all events
• 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
 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
• Avoid using too much because the software allows it
 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
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
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
Tactile feedback should allow users to recognize and distinguish different
meanings
 Human-Memory
Human memory refers to the cognitive process of encoding, storing, and retrieving
information.
It is the ability of the brain to retain and recall past experiences, knowledge, skills, and
perceptions.
Memory plays a fundamental role in our daily lives, shaping our understanding of the
world and influencing our thoughts, decisions, and actions.
Context is important in affecting our memory (i.e. where, when)
We recognize things much better than being able to recall things
There are several key components and types of memory:
1. Sensory Memory
2. Short-Term Memory (STM)
3. Long-Term Memory (LTM)
 Sensory memory
 It is the initial stage of memory where sensory information from the environment is briefly
registered and retained.
 Different sensory modalities, such as visual (iconic memory) and auditory (echoic
memory), have their own sensory memory systems.
 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 memory

 Short-term memory (STM)
 It is also known as working memory, STM is responsible for temporarily holding and
manipulating information that is actively processed.
 It has limited capacity and duration, typically ranging from a few seconds to a minute.
 rapid access ~ 70ms

 rapid decay ~ 200ms

 limited capacity 7± 2 chunks(STM)

• Measuring memory capacity

• Length of sequence which can be remembered

• Items to be freely recalled in any order
• average person can remember =7±2 digits/chanks
• Successful formation of chank is closure.
 Examples

212348278493202

0121 414 2626

HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET

 Long-term memory (LTM)
 LTM is the stage where information is stored for an extended period, potentially
indefinitely.
 It has a vast capacity and is believed to be organized into various types of memory,
including declarative/explicit memory (conscious recall of facts and events) and non-
declarative/implicit memory (unconscious memory influencing behavior and skills).
 Repository for all our knowledge
 slow access ~ 1/10 second

 slow decay, if any

 huge or unlimited capacity

 Long-term memory (LTM)
Two types
1. episodic – serial memory of events and experiences
It includes the context in which the event occurred, such as the time, place, emotions,
and associated details.
2. semantic– structured memory of facts, concepts, skills
It involves the storage and retrieval of general knowledge, concepts, facts, and
meanings that are not tied to specific personal experiences.
It includes information about the world, language, facts about objects, and general
knowledge.
semantic LTM derived from episodic LTM
 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 neighbors.
You are only used to seeing your neighbor in the hallway of your apartment
block and seeing him out of context makes him difficult to recognize initially”
 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
 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, etc

 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, color, flagging, time stamping
 Human-Memory
There are three types of memory function:

Sensory or buffer memories

Short-term memory or working memory

Long-term memory

Selection of stimuli governed by level of arousal.

 Models of LTM
There are several models and theories proposed to explain the organization and
functioning of long-term memory (LTM). Here are a few prominent models:
1. Semantic network
2. Frames
3. Scripts
4. Production rules
 Models of LTM:Semantic network
 Semantic network models of long-term memory (LTM) propose that semantic memory is
organized in a network-like structure, where concepts are represented as nodes, and
 the relationships between concepts are represented as links or connections.

 These models emphasize the interconnectedness and associations between concepts,

which facilitate the retrieval of information based on their relatedness.
• Semantic memory structure
 provides access to information

 represents relationships between bits of information

 inheritance – child nodes inherit properties of parent nodes

 supports inference through inheritance (conclusion based on evidence)

LTM - Semantic network
 Models of LTM - Frames
Frames are another model used to represent and organize knowledge in long-term
memory (LTM).
Frames provide a structured way to organize and store information about specific
situations, events, or concepts.
A frame represents a mental structure or template that contains information about a
specific concept, situation, or event. It consists of slots, which are placeholders for
specific attributes or properties associated with the frame.
Each slot can hold values or fillers that provide specific information about the frame.
Frame slots may contain default, fixed or variable information.
 Frame is instantiated when the slots are filled with appropriate values
 Models of LTM - Frames
 Information organized in data structures
 Slots in structure instantiated with values for instance of data
 Inheritance: Frames can be organized hierarchically, with more general frames at
higher levels and more specific frames at lower levels.
COLLIE
DOG
Fixed
Fixed legs: 4 breed of: DOG
type: sheepdog
Default diet: carnivorous
sound: bark Default
size: 65 cm
Variable
size:…. Variable
Color: color
 Default Values: Frames can also include default values for slots, which are the
assumed or common values associated with a particular concept or event.
 Models of LTM - Scripts
 Scripts, also known as event schemas or event scripts, are cognitive models used to
represent and organize knowledge about familiar sequences of events or activities stored in
long-term memory (LTM).
 Scripts provide a framework for understanding and predicting the typical flow of events in
specific situations.
 Scripts represent the typical order or sequence of events that occur in a particular situation
or activity.
 Scripts define the roles and participants involved in a particular activity. Each role has
associated expectations, behaviors, and responsibilities.
 Scripts often include default or expected information about the elements within the script.
This default information represents the typical or most common attributes associated with
each event or participant.
 Models of LTM - Scripts
Model of stereotypical information required to interpret situation
Script has elements that can be instantiated with values for context
Frames and scripts can be linked together in networks to represent hierarchical
structured knowledge. Script for a visit to the vet
Roles: vet examines
Entry conditions: dog ill diagnoses
vet open treats
owner has money owner brings dog in
Result: dog better pays
owner poorer takes dog out
vet richer Scenes: arriving at reception
Props: examination table waiting in room
medicine examination
instruments paying
Tracks: dog needs medicine
dog needs operation
 Models of LTM - Production rules
 Production rules are a cognitive model used to represent and organize knowledge in
long-term memory (LTM).
 Production rules describe a set of conditional statements that specify the conditions
under which certain actions or behaviors should be executed.
 They are widely used in the field of cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
 A production rule consists of two parts: a condition (also known as an if-then statement)
and an action (also known as a consequence or then-part).
 Models of LTM - Production rules
Representation of procedural knowledge.
Condition/action rules
if condition is matched
then use rule to determine action

IF dog is wagging tail

THEN pat dog

IF dog is growling
THEN run away
 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
 Design implications
• Provide additional information/functions for users who wish to understand more about
how to carry out an activity more effectively

• Use simple computational aids to support rapid decision-making and planning for
users on the move
 Assignment
 Pick one real world object and design its semantic network based on your
concept, skill and experience.
 Support the semantic network with:

• Frames ,scripts and production rules

And you are expected to present in class.
 LTM - Storage of information( LTM -Related activity)
Rehearsal
 information moves from STM to LTM

Total time hypothesis

 amount retained proportional to rehearsal time

 recall of individual words depends primarily on the total viewing time

Distribution of practice effect

 optimized by spreading learning over time

Structure, meaning and familiarity

 information easier to remember
 LTM - Forgetting

Decay
 information is lost gradually but very slowly

Interference
 new information replaces old: retroactive interference

 old may interfere with new: proactive inhibition

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

 Thinking
 Reasoning
• deduction, induction, abduction
 Problem solving
1. Deductive Reasoning
Deduction:
 derive logically necessary conclusion from given premises.
e.g. If it is Friday then she will go to work
It is Friday
Therefore she will go to work.
Logical conclusion not necessarily true:
e.g. If it is raining then the ground is dry
It is raining
Therefore the ground is dry
 Deduction (cont.)
 When truth and logical validity clash …
e.g. Some people are babies
Some babies cry
Inference - Some people cry
Correct?
 2. Inductive Reasoning
 Induction:
 generalize from cases seen to cases unseen
e.g. all elephants we have seen have trunks
therefore all elephants have trunks.

 Unreliable:
 can only prove false not true
… but useful!

 Humans not good at using negative evidence

e.g. Wason's cards.
 Wason's cards

7 E 4 K
If a card has a vowel on one side it has an even number on the other

Is this true?

How many cards do you need to turn over to find out?

…. and which cards?

 3. Abductive reasoning
 Reasoning from event to cause
e.g. Sam drives fast when drunk.
If I see Sam driving fast, assume drunk.

 Unreliable:
 can lead to false explanations
 Problem Solving
 Process of finding solution to unfamiliar task using knowledge.

Several theories
1. Gestalt
 Problem solving both productive and reproductive

 Productive draws on insight and restructuring of problem

 attractive but not enough evidence to explain `insight' etc.

 move away from behaviourism and led towards information processing

theories
 Problem solving(cont’)
2. Problem space theory
 Problem space comprises problem states

 Problem solving involves generating states using legal operators

 Heuristics may be employed to select operators

e.g. means-ends analysis

 Operates within human information processing system

e.g. STM limits etc.

 largely applied to problem solving in well-defined areas

e.g. puzzles rather than knowledge intensive areas

 Problem solving(cont’)

 Analogy
 analogical mapping:

• novel problems in new domain?

• use knowledge of similar problem from similar domain
 analogical mapping difficult if domains are semantically different

• Skill acquisition
 skilled activity characterized by chunking

• lot of information is chunked to optimize STM

 conceptual rather than superficial grouping of problems

 information is structured more effectively

 Behaviorists researchers
They argued that problem solving was a reproductive process
Organisms faced with a problem applied behavior that had been successful on a
previous occasion
Successful behavior was itself believed to have been arrived at through a process of
trial-and-error
• The Gestalt approach
Argued that problem solving was a productive process.
 In particular, in the process of thinking about a problem individuals sometimes
"restructured" their representation of the problem, leading to a flash of insight that
enabled them to reach a solution.
 Problem space theory cognitive approach
 People solve problems by searching in a problem space
 The problem space consists of the initial (current) state, the goal state, and all
possible states in between
 The actions that people take in order to move from one state to another are known
as operators.
Consider the eight puzzle.
 Errors and mental models
Types of error
 slips
 right intention, but failed to do it right
 causes: poor physical skill, in attention etc.
 change to aspect of skilled behaviour can cause slip
 mistakes
 wrong intention
 cause: incorrect understanding
 humans create mental models to explain behaviour.

if wrong (different from actual system) errors can occur

 Emotion
 Various theories of how emotion works
 James-Lange: emotion is our interpretation of a physiological response to a

stimuli
 Cannon: emotion is a psychological response to a stimuli

 Schacter-Singer: emotion is the result of our evaluation of our physiological

responses, in the light of the whole situation we are in

 Emotion clearly involves both cognitive and physical responses to stimuli
 Emotion (cont’)
 The biological response to physical stimuli is called affect
• Affect influences how we respond to situations
 positive  creative problem solving

 negative  narrow thinking

“Negative affect can make it harder to do even easy tasks; positive affect can make
it easier to do difficult tasks” (Donald Norman)

Implications for interface design

 Stress will increase the difficulty of problem solving

 Relaxed users will be more forgiving of shortcomings in design

 Aesthetically pleasing and rewarding interfaces will increase positive affect

 Individual differences
 Long Term
– sex, physical and intellectual abilities
 Short Term
– effect of stress or fatigue
 Changing
– age
Ask yourself:
will design decision exclude section of user population?
 Psychology and the Design of Interactive System
 Some direct applications
 e.g. blue acuity is poor
 blue should not be used for important detail
• However, correct application generally requires understanding of context in
psychology, and an understanding of particular experimental conditions
• A lot of knowledge has been distilled in
 guidelines

 cognitive models

 experimental and analytic evaluation techniques

 Summery
 So far we have looked briefly at the way in which humans receive, process and store
information, solve problems and acquire skill
 But how can we apply what we have learned to designing interactive systems?
 Human psychology vs interface design?
 What are mental models, and why are they important in interface design?
 What can a system designer do to minimize the memory load of the user?
Thanks!!!