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Cognitive Science Tradition

Page history last edited by Katey Deeny 14 years, 4 months ago

Basic tenets 

Cognitive science is a discipline which was initially formed from work being done in both cognitive psychology and artificial intellegence. Studies in the disipline first were published in the journal “Cognitive Science” started in 1980 and edited by Donald Norman, who is responsible for popularizing many core HCDE concepts. 

 

Cognitive science views the human mind as a processing mechanism which can be studied in much the same way as a machine. Such studies in cognitive science are empirical and replicable, and typically adhere to a rigorous scientific standard. The “model human processor” was published by Card, Moran and Newell in their 1983 book “The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction” and was based on scientific theory being used to apply engineering principles to cognitive processes. The model human processor responds to stimuli much like a computer, and in cognitive science the human brain is represented as a metaphor for a computer processor. This metaphor promotes the "conduit metaphor" of communication, opening up the tradition to critique by those interested in the more nuanced attributes of communication.

 

The Model Human Processor (Card, Moran & Newell, 1983)

 

(click to view full size)

 

Relationship to HCDE

Cognitive science provides valuable insight into how the human brain processes information.    

Two important principles from Cognitive Science guide most usability thinking:

1. The mental model

The mental model is the internal, abstracted understanding of external reality. The external representation is how that mental model is designed or represented in the physical world. To create useful, usable HCI, the engineer or designer must map the external model to the users mental model, allowing the user to more quickly construct procedures for use. 

 

2. Constructivism

Cognitive science proposes that the brain constructs new knowledge, procedures, and mental models based on previously mastered knowledge, procedures, and mental models. If a new system or interface is designed with previous constructions in mind, procedural knowledge is gained more quickly and easily by the user.

  

In the formative years of HCI, researchers posited that users form mental models of computer systems which they use to understand and interact with the system. This concept is valuable to people working in HCI today because it means that the designers of a system can grasp not only the user’s mental model of the system but also the user’s process of constructing it. With this knowledge, designers can make informed decisions about systems development by creating a system that maps to the user’s mental model.

  

Many simple processing models that have been described through the work of cognitive science are replicable, which allows those designing systems to predict certain behavior without having to do costly or time-consuming user tests when the data is readily available for that phenomenon. An example of this would be simple reaction tests, which have informed many basic inputs and interface elements in operating sustem GUIs.

 

(Kieras, D., 2007) 

     

Antecedents 

Behaviorism, Linguistics, Psychology, General Systems Theory

      

Related to 

Structuralism, Artificial Intellegence, Computer Science

      

Critiques 

See: Cognitive Science: limitations and critiques

 

also: Functionalism, Distributed Cognition (Dcog), Activity Theory, Situated Action

 

Citations

Card, S. K., Newell, A., & Moran, T. P. (1983). The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates Inc.

 

Kieras, D. (2008). Psychology in human-computer interaction. Proceedings of the The 26th Annual CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, http://videolectures.net/chi08_kieras_phc/

 

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