Human C

H Computer
t
Interaction

Chapter
Ch
Chapter-
t -1
The Human

1
 Human Computer Interaction
¾ HCI is the study and the practice of usability.
¾ Usability means easy to learn, effective to use and
provide an enjoyable
p j y experience.
p
¾ It is about understanding and creating software and
other technology that people will want to use, will be able
to use, and will find effective when used.

2
 The human
¾ Consider human as information processor
¾ Receiving inputs from the world, storing and using
information
¾ Information receive through the senses, particularly, in
case of computer use, through sight, hearing and touch
¾ It is stored in memory, either temporarily in sensory or
permanently in LTM
¾ It can then
th beb used
d iin reasoning
i and
d problem
bl solving
l i

3
 The human
¾ Humans are limited in their capacity to process
information
¾ Human perception and cognition are complex but they
are not without their limitations
¾ An understanding of the capabilities and limitations of
the human as information processor can help us to
design interactive system
¾ Each person is different
¾ Five major senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste & smell
 Vision

¾ Human vision is a highly complex activity but it is

primary
i source off iinformation.
f ti
¾ Two stages in vision

• physical reception of stimulus from the outside

world

• processing and interpretation of stimulus

 The Human Eye
y
¾ mechanism for receiving light and transforming it
i t electrical
into l t i l energy
¾ images are focused upside-down on retina
¾ retina contains rods for low light vision and
cones for colour vision
¾ ganglion cells (brain!) detect pattern and
movement
 Interpreting
g the signal
g
¾ Size and depth
¾ visualangle indicates how much of view
object occupies
(relates to size and distance from eye)
 Interpreting
g the signal
g
¾ Brightness
¾ subjective
reaction to levels of light
¾ measured by just noticeable difference

¾ Colour
¾ 8% males and 1% females colour blind
Optical Illusions
 Reading
g
¾ During reading, the eye makes jerky movements
¾ The speed at which text can be read is a measure of its
legibility
¾ Experiments
E periments sho
shownn that standard font si
size
e of 9 to 12
points equal legible
¾ Word shape is important to recognition
¾ Negative contrast improves reading from computer
screen
¾ Reading from a computer screen is slower than a book
 Hearing
g
¾ Provides information about environment:
distances directions
distances, directions, objects etc
etc.
¾ Auditory system filters sounds
¾ can attend to sounds over background noise.
 Touch or haptic
perception
¾ Provides important feedback about environment.
¾ May be key sense for someone who is visually impaired.
¾ Stimulus received via receptors in the skin:
¾ The skin contains three types of sensory receptor:
• thermoreceptors
p – respond
p to heat and cold
• nociceptors – respond to heat and pain
• mechanoreceptors – respond to pressure, vibrations
¾ Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers.
 Movement
¾ Speed and accuracy of movement are important
considerations
id ti iin d
design
i off iinteractive
t ti system
t
¾ Primarily in terms of time taken to move to a
particular target on a screen
¾ Time taken to respond
p to stimulus: reaction time
+ movement time
¾ Movement time - dependent
p on age,
g , fitness etc.
¾ Reaction time - dependent on stimulus type:
 Memory
y
¾ There are three types of memory function:

¾ Sensory memories (visual → iconic,

auditory → echoic, touch → haptic)

¾ Short-term
Short term memory or working memory

¾ Long-term
Long term memory
 Short-term memory
y ((STM))
¾ STM acts as a scratch-pad for temporary recall
off information
i f ti
¾ It is used to store information which is only
required fleetingly
¾ Has a limited capacity
p y
 Examples
¾ 212348278493202

¾ 0121 414 2626

¾ HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET

¾ ATM
 Long-term
g memory
y ((LTM))
¾ Repository for all our knowledge
¾ slow access
¾ slow decay, if any
¾ huge or unlimited capacity
Long-term memory -
semantic network
 Models of LTM - Frames
¾ Information organized in data structures
¾ Slots in structure instantiated with values for
instance of data
¾ Type-subtype relationships

DOG COLLIE

Fixed Fixed
legs:
egs: 4 breed
b eed of:
o : DOG
OG
type: sheepdog
Default
diet: carniverous Default
sound: bark size: 65 cm
Variable
i bl Variable
i bl
size: colour
colour
 Models of LTM - Scripts
¾ Script has elements that can be instantiated with values
for context

S i t ffor a visit
Script i it to
t the
th vett

Entry conditions: dog ill Roles:vet examines

vet open diagnoses
owner has money treats
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
¾ Representation of procedural knowledge.
¾ Condition/action rules
¾ if condition is matched
¾ then use rule to determine action.

IF dog is wagging tail

THEN patt ddog

IF dog is growling
THEN run awayy
 LTM - Forgetting
g g
¾ decay
information is lost gradually but very slowly

¾ interference
new information replaces old: retroactive interference
old may interfere with new: proactive inhibition
 Thinking: reasoning and problem
solving

¾ Animals receive and store information, there is little

evidence to suggest that they can use it in quite same
way as humans.
¾ Similarly AI produced machines which can see and store
information.
¾ Humans are able to use information to reason and solve
problems
¾ Thi ki can require
Thinking i different
diff t amounts
t off knowledge
k l d
¾ Some thinking activities are very directed and the
knowledge required is constrained
constrained.
 Reasoning

Reasoning is the process by which we use the knowledge we have

to draw conclusions or infer something new about the domain of
i t
interest.
t
Deductive: 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.
¾ Logical conclusion not necessarily true: (it conflicts with our
knowledge of what is true in the world)
e.g. If it is raining then the ground is dry
It is raining
Therefore the ground is dry
 Deduction
¾ Human deduction poor when truth and validity
clash

e.g. Some people are babies

Some babies cryy
Inference - Some people cry

¾ People bring world knowledge into the reasoning

process.
process
 Inductive Reasoning
g
¾ Induction is generalizing from cases we seen to infer
information about cases we have unseen
e.g. all elephants we have seen have trunks
therefore all elephants have trunks.
¾ This inference is unreliable and cannot be proved to be
true; it can only be proved to be false not true.
¾ We can disprove the inference simply by producing an
elephant without a trunk
¾ We can never prove it true because no matter how many
elephants with trunks we have seen or are known to
exist, the next one we see may be trunkless.
Humans not good at using negative evidence
 Problem solving
g
¾ Problem solving is the process of finding a solution to
unfamiliar
u a a task,
as , us
using
g knowledge.
o edge

¾ Several theories
theories.
• problem solving both productive and reproductive
• reproductive
d ti problem
bl solving
l i d draws on previous
i
experience
• productive problem solving involves insight and
restructuring of problem
 Errors and mental models
¾ Human capability for interpreting and manipulating information
is quite impressive.
¾ However, we do make mistakes. Some are trivial, resulting in
no more than temp inconvenience.
¾ Some are serious,, requiring
q g more effort to correct.
¾ Types of error
slips
right intention, but failed to do it right
causes: poor physical skill, inattention etc.
change to aspect of skilled behaviour can cause slip
 Errors and mental models
mistakes
wrong intention
cause: incorrect understanding
- humans create mental models to explain
behaviour.
if wrong (different from actual system) errors
can occur.
occur

29
 Individual differences
¾ Our assumption that everyone has similar capabilities &
limitations that we can make generalizations.
generalizations
¾ We should be aware of individual differences so that we
can account for them as far as possible within our design
¾ These differences should taken into account in our
design.