HCI 3e - Ch 12: Cognitive models

Cognitive models goal and task hierarchies linguistic physical and device architectural

Cognitive models They model aspects of user: understanding knowledge intentions processing Common categorisation: Competence vs. Performance Computational flavour No clear divide

Goal and task hierarchies Mental processing as divide-and-conquer Example: sales report produce report gather data . find book names . . do keywords search of names database . . . … further sub-goals . . sift through names and abstracts by hand . . . … further sub-goals . search sales database - further sub-goals layout tables and histograms - further sub-goals write description - further sub-goals

goals vs. tasks goals – intentions what you would like to be true tasks – actions how to achieve it GOMS – goals are internal HTA – actions external – tasks are abstractions

Issues for goal hierarchies Granularity Where do we start? Where do we stop? Routine learned behaviour, not problem solving The unit task Conflict More than one way to achieve a goal Error

Techniques Goals, Operators, Methods and Selection (GOMS) Cognitive Complexity Theory (CCT) Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) - Chapter 15

GOMS Goals what the user wants to achieve Operators basic actions user performs Methods decomposition of a goal into subgoals/operators Selection means of choosing between competing methods

GOMS example GOAL: CLOSE-WINDOW . [select GOAL: USE-MENU-METHOD . MOVE-MOUSE-TO-FILE-MENU . PULL-DOWN-FILE-MENU . CLICK-OVER-CLOSE-OPTION GOAL: USE-CTRL-W-METHOD . PRESS-CONTROL-W-KEYS] For a particular user: Rule 1: Select USE-MENU-METHOD unless another rule applies Rule 2: If the application is GAME, select CTRL-W-METHOD

Cognitive Complexity Theory Two parallel descriptions: User production rules Device generalised transition networks Production rules are of the form: if condition then action Transition networks covered under dialogue models

Example: editing with vi Production rules are in long-term memory Model working memory as attribute-value mapping: (GOAL perform unit task) (TEXT task is insert space) (TEXT task is at 5 23) (CURSOR 8 7) Rules are pattern-matched to working memory, e.g., LOOK-TEXT task is at %LINE %COLUMN is true, with LINE = 5 COLUMN = 23.

Four rules to model inserting a space Active rules: SELECT-INSERT-SPACE INSERT-SPACE-MOVE-FIRST INSERT-SPACE-DOIT INSERT-SPACE-DONE New working memory (GOAL insert space) (NOTE executing insert space) (LINE 5) (COLUMN 23) SELECT-INSERT-SPACE matches current working memory (SELECT-INSERT-SPACE IF (AND (TEST-GOAL perform unit task) (TEST-TEXT task is insert space) (NOT (TEST-GOAL insert space)) (NOT (TEST-NOTE executing insert space))) THEN ( (ADD-GOAL insert space) (ADD-NOTE executing insert space) (LOOK-TEXT task is at %LINE %COLUMN)))

Notes on CCT Parallel model Proceduralisation of actions Novice versus expert style rules Error behaviour can be represented Measures depth of goal structure number of rules comparison with device description

Problems with goal hierarchies a post hoc technique expert versus novice How cognitive are they?

Linguistic notations Understanding the user's behaviour and cognitive difficulty based on analysis of language between user and system. Similar in emphasis to dialogue models Backus–Naur Form (BNF) Task–Action Grammar (TAG)

Backus-Naur Form (BNF) Very common notation from computer science A purely syntactic view of the dialogue Terminals lowest level of user behaviour e.g. CLICK-MOUSE, MOVE-MOUSE Nonterminals ordering of terminals higher level of abstraction e.g. select-menu, position-mouse

Example of BNF Basic syntax: nonterminal ::= expression An expression contains terminals and nonterminals combined in sequence (+) or as alternatives (|) draw line ::= select line + choose points + last point select line ::= pos mouse + CLICK MOUSE choose points ::= choose one | choose one + choose points choose one ::= pos mouse + CLICK MOUSE last point ::= pos mouse + DBL CLICK MOUSE pos mouse ::= NULL | MOVE MOUSE+ pos mouse

Measurements with BNF Number of rules (not so good) Number of + and | operators Complications same syntax for different semantics no reflection of user's perception minimal consistency checking

Task Action Grammar (TAG) Making consistency more explicit Encoding user's world knowledge Parameterised grammar rules Nonterminals are modified to include additional semantic features

Consistency in TAG In BNF, three UNIX commands would be described as: copy ::= cp + filename + filename | cp + filenames + directory move ::= mv + filename + filename | mv + filenames + directory link ::= ln + filename + filename | ln + filenames + directory No BNF measure could distinguish between this and a less consistent grammar in which link ::= ln + filename + filename | ln + directory + filenames

Consistency in TAG (cont'd) consistency of argument order made explicit using a parameter, or semantic feature for file operations Feature Possible values Op = copy; move; link Rules file-op[Op] ::= command[Op] + filename + filename | command[Op] + filenames + directory command[Op = copy] ::= cp command[Op = move] ::= mv command[Op = link] ::= ln

Other uses of TAG User’s existing knowledge Congruence between features and commands These are modelled as derived rules

Physical and device models The Keystroke Level Model (KLM) Buxton's 3-state model Based on empirical knowledge of human motor system User's task: acquisition then execution. these only address execution Complementary with goal hierarchies

Keystroke Level Model (KLM) lowest level of (original) GOMS six execution phase operators Physical motor: K - keystroking P - pointing H - homing D - drawing Mental M - mental preparation System R - response times are empirically determined. Texecute = TK + TP + TH + TD + TM + TR

KLM example GOAL: ICONISE-WINDOW [select GOAL: USE-CLOSE-METHOD . MOVE-MOUSE-TO- FILE-MENU . PULL-DOWN-FILE-MENU . CLICK-OVER-CLOSE-OPTION GOAL: USE-CTRL-W-METHOD PRESS-CONTROL-W-KEY] compare alternatives: USE-CTRL-W-METHOD vs. USE-CLOSE-METHOD assume hand starts on mouse USE-CLOSE-METHOD P[to menu] 1.1 B[LEFT down] 0.1 M 1.35 P[to option] 1.1 B[LEFT up] 0.1 Total 3.75 s USE-CTRL-W-METHOD H[to kbd] 0.40 M 1.35 K[ctrlW key] 0.28 Total 2.03 s

Architectural models All of these cognitive models make assumptions about the architecture of the human mind. Long-term/Short-term memory Problem spaces Interacting Cognitive Subsystems Connectionist ACT

Display-based interaction Most cognitive models do not deal with user observation and perception Some techniques have been extended to handle system output (e.g., BNF with sensing terminals, Display-TAG) but problems persist Exploratory interaction versus planning

HCI 3e - Ch 12: Cognitive models

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HCI 3e - Ch 12: Cognitive models