Cognition: Memory CS352

Cognition What goes on in our heads when we carry out activities (eg, use UIs)? Book: –attention, perception, memory, learning, speaking/reading/listening, problem- solving/reasoning

Memory Number activity:

Memory (cont) Chunking UIs use this.

Memory (Cont.) Number activity:

Memory (Cont.) Number activity:

Memory (cont) UI implications from these two activities?

Structure of memory Short term memory (STM) –Demonstration. Long term memory (LTM) –Everything else. –Mostly when we say “memory”, we mean LTM.

Recognition and Recall Money activity #1 GUI strength: emphasize recognition over recall. –But usually slowed down by need for visual scan in GUIs. –UI solutions.

People storing/retrieving knowledge Declarative knowledge –NYC is north of Miami. –To get key out of ignition, car must be in “park”. –Easy to teach. Procedural knowledge –How to spin a basketball on 1 finger. –How to boot a smart phone into recovery mode. –Best taught by demo, learned by practice.

Encoding and (lack of) precision How we encode affects: –what we retrieve (recall or recognize) and –how we retrieve Money activity #2 (if time permits)

Ways to encode (and constraints) Appearance attributes, sound, rhythm, rhyme. Traveling performers: how did they do that? –Thru encoding tied to constraints. (Storage for retrieval). Rhythm Rhymes with Must make sense

Encoding (cont.) Retrieval –Word guessing activities So, reduce and/or facilitate encoding: –Constraints reduce encoding needed. –Support external cognition (stay tuned) to remove need to encode. eg: Excel’s arrows make dependencies explicit. –Provide users a variety of ways to encode (eg, color, flagging, position). eg: forgot filename, but it’s the red folder.

Case study The Microsoft Office (past) rearranging of menus due to recency. –Think about chunking/grouping –Think about imprecision of encoding. –What will do if don’t see what you want? Does this mean “most recent” is always a bad idea in a UI?

Encoding (cont.) Different amount of encoding needed for: –Remembering a bunch of arbitrary things. –Remembering things with meaningful relationships. Hotel is on north side of town. –“Remembering” things that can be derived. Tied to “mental models” (stay tuned).

Implications for your Project How can UI help user remember (store/retrieve) here? –Think about: recog/recall, practice, chunking, declarative vs. procedural, encoding, constraints Ideas: –Grocery system content eg: what brand was that that I bought last time? –Grocery system UI mechanism eg: how do I get a subtotal? –Discussion: Your project examples?