Chapter 2- Human In HCI

 Introduction
 Information I/O channels

 Visual, Auditory, Haptic, Movement

 Human memory
 Sensory, short-term, long-term
 Information processed and applied
 Reasoning, problem solving
 Emotion influences human capabilities
 Each person is different
 Introduction
 The human, is the user, whom computer systems are
designed to assist.
 The requirements of the user should therefore be
our first priority to:
 Understand capabilities and limitations of human beings
 Know things that we will find easy, difficult or, even,
impossible,
 We study human cognitive psychology which deal
with the mental process of human being
 how humans perceive the world around them
 how they store and process information and solve problems

 how they physically manipulate objects

 Introduction..
 To understand this well simplified model of human beings
as information processing unit is vital.
 Model Human Processor by Card, Moran and Newell in
1983
 isa simplified view of the human processing
involved in interacting with computer systems.
 the model has three subsystems:
 Perceptual system – acquiring information (sensory
stimulus) from the outside world- i/o
 Motor system – which controls actions, memory
 Cognitive system – which handles the processing
required to connecting the two.(processing includes
problem solving, learning, and, consequently, making
mistakes)
 Introduction..

 Each of these subsystems has its own processor

and memory
 The model that have a closer analogy to that of a
conventional computer system
 input–output, memory and processing
 Human beings involves an intelligent information-
processing system.
 includes problem solving, learning, and,
consequently, making decision.
 A. Human Input–output channels
 In an interaction with a computer a user:- receives information that is
output by the computer, and responds by providing input to computer
 User’s output becomes the computer’s input and vice versa.
 Information is received and responses given via d/t human input and
output channels:
 Visual channel (vision-Eye )
 Auditory channel (hearing-Ear)
 Haptic channel (touch-Skin)
 Movement (Gesture-mov’t of hand or head to express idea)
 Input in the human occurs mainly through the senses organs
 Sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell (first three are the most
important to HCI.)
 Output in the human occurs through the motor control of the effectors
 the limbs(hands), fingers, head and vocal(speech) system
 1. Vision – visual Channel(Eye)

 Vision is the primary source of information for the

average person.
 Two stages in vision
 Physical reception of stimulus
 Processing and interpretation of stimulus

 The Eye
 Is an organ for receiving light reflects from object and
transforming it into electrical energy
 Images are focused upside-down on retina

 Retina contains two photoreceptor:

 Rods for low light vision and cones for colour vision
 Visual perception allows us
 To recognize Size and depth
 Visual angle indicates how much of view object occupies -
relates to size and distance from eye
 Visual acuity is ability to perceive fine detail (but limited)
 Familiar objects perceived as constant size - in spite of changes
in visual angle when far away - law of size constancy
 To identify Brightness
 Subjective to reaction levels of light
 Colour
 made up of hue (wave length), intensity(brightness), Saturation
(whiteness)
 Cones sensitive to colour wavelengths
 2. Hearing-Auditory channel(human Ear)

 Provides information about environment with distances, directions, type, etc.

 Main source of information for the visually impaired people
 Uses of non-speech sounds include the following:
 Attention – warning sound and notification
 Status information - background sounds used to convey status information
 Confirmation - sound associated with an action to approve change
 Navigation - using changing sound to indicate where the user is in a system

 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 causing impulses in auditory nerve

 Sound elements
 Pitch – sound frequency
 loudness – amplitude
 Timbre – type or quality
3. Touch-Haptic channel(Skin or finger)

 Touch tells us when we touch something hot or cold, and can

therefore act as a warning
 Provides important feedback about environment
 May be key sense for someone who is visually and auditory
impaired eg. braille
 Stimulus received via receptors in the skin
 Thermoreceptors – heat and cold
 Nociceptors – intense pressure, and pain
 Mechanoreceptors – pressure (instant or continuous ) - HCI
 Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers to sense braille
and for typewriting
 Another haptic perception is Kinesthesis
 awareness of body position and limbs due to receptors in the joints
 B. Human Memory
There are three types of memory function:


 1. Sensory memory
 Buffers for stimuli received through senses
 iconic memory - visual stimuli
 echoic memory – aural (hearing) stimuli
 haptic memory - tactile (touch) stimuli
 Information is passed from sensory memory into short-term
memory by attention
 Attention is the concentration of the mind on one selected stimuli out of
a number of competing stimuli or thoughts.
 This is due to the limited capacity of our sensory and mental processes.
 2. Short-term Memory (STM)
 Is also called working memory
 Used as Scratch-pad (note book) for temporary recall of info.
 It is used to store information which is only required fleetingly
(lasting for very short time)
 Short-term memory has a limited capacity
 There are two basic methods for measuring memory capacity.
 1. Determining the length of a sequence which can be remembered in order.
 2. Determining characters freely recalled in any order.
 Using the first measure, the average person can remember 7±2 digits.
Example: 265397620853
 Short-term memory can be accessed rapidly.
 Eg. 25*5 =20*5 +5*5 storing intermediate result
 3. Long-term memory (LTM)

 Repository for all our knowledge, experiences, and

factual information
 slow access
 slow decay(forgetting), if any
 huge or unlimited capacity

 Long-term memory is intended for the long-term

storage of information.
 Information is placed there from working memory
through rehearsal.
 Long-term memory …

 Three main activities related to long-term memory:

 Storage or remembering of information,
 Forgetting and
 Retrieval information

 Storage of information
 Rehearsal - information moves from STM to LTM
 Long-term memory …
 Forgetting – what causes us lose information?
 Two main theories of forgetting: decay and interference
 Decay - If information is not retrieved and rehearsed, it will
eventually be lost.
 Interference - If we acquire new information it causes the
loss of old information
 new information replaces old: retroactive interference
 old may interfere with new: proactive inhibition
 Others
 Failure to store – e.g. identify the correct Ethiopian 100
Birr notes out of a group of forged 100 Birr notes
 Motivated Forgetting - actively work to forget
memories
 Long-term memory …
 Retrieval
 Do we really forget? Debatable
 Two types of information retrieval: recall & Recognition
 Recall
 Remembering something that learned/happened in the
past.
 information reproduced from memory
 can be assisted by cues /reminds, e.g. categories, imagery
 Recognition
 Remembering(understanding) by seeing/looking at/
something.
 Presentation of information gives knowledge that it has
been seen before
 less complex than recall
 C. Processing (Thinking, Reasoning and
Problem Solving

 How information is processed and

manipulated
 These are most complex and which separates
humans from other information-processing
systems, both artificial and natural
 Humans are able to use information to reason
and solve problems and think about things
Thinking
 How is information processed and Manipulated?
 Humans are able to think about things of which we have no
experience, and solve problems which we have never seen
before.
 Thinking can require different amounts of knowledge
 Some thinking activities are very directed and the knowledge
required is constrained.
 Others require vast amounts of knowledge from different
domains.
 Performing a subtraction calculation vs. understanding newspaper
headlines
 Two categories of thinking considered: Reasoning & Problem
Solving
 Reasoning
 Reasoning is the process by which we use the knowledge to draw
conclusions or infer something new about the domain of interest
 There are a number of different types of reasoning
 Deductive, Inductive and Abductive
 1. Deductive Reasoning
 Deduction: derive logically necessary conclusion from given premises (base).
e.g. If it is Friday then she will go to work
It is Friday
Therefore she will go to work.
 A type of logic in which one goes from a general statement
to a specific instance.
Example All men are mortal. (major premise)
Socrates is a man. (minor premise)
Therefore, Socrates is mortal. (conclusion)
 Reasoning …
 2. Inductive Reasoning
 Induction - is generalizing from cases we have seen to
infer information about cases we have not seen
 e.g. all elephants we have seen have trunks,
therefore all elephants have trunks. (positive Evidence)
 3. Abductive reasoning
 reasoning from fact of event to cause certain action
e.g. Sam drives fast when drunk.
If I see Sam driving fast, assume drunk.
 Unreliable: can lead to false explanations –
 E.g. The reason for driving fast may because “she is
called to an emergency”
 Problem solving

 Problem solving is the process of finding a solution to an

unfamiliar task, using the knowledge we have.
 Reasoning is a means of infer new information from what is
already known
 Different views/theories on how people solve problems
 1. Gestalt View:
 Problem solving involves both reuse of knowledge and
insight.
 problem solving is a matter of reproducing known responses or
trial and error
 Problem solving…
 2. Problem space theory - Proposed by Newell and
Simon
 Problem space comprises problem states
 Problem has an initial state and a goal state and people use the
operators to move from the former to the latter
 3. Analogy
 Involves mapping knowledge relating to a similar known
domain to the new problem – called analogical mapping
 Using old knowledge from similar domain to solve a new
problem.
 analogical mapping difficult if domains are semantically
different
 Individual differences
 Everyone has no similar capabilities and limitations, therefore we
can't make generalizations
 long term differences
– sex, physical and intellectual abilities
 short term differences
– effect of stress or fatigue
 Still others change through time
– age
 These differences should be taken into account in our
designs.
 For example, the current emphasis on visual interfaces excludes
those who are visually impaired, unless the design also makes use
of the other sensory channels.
 Human Considerations in Design
 The User's Knowledge and Experience:
 Computer Literacy - Highly technical(experienced),
moderate, or none
 System Experience - High, moderate, or low knowledge of
a particular system and its methods of interaction
 Systems Use - Frequent or infrequent use of other systems
in doing job
 Education -High school, college, or advanced degree
 Typing Skill - Expert (135 WPM), skilled (90 WPM), good
(55 WPM), average (40 WPM), or "hunt and peck" (10
WPM).
 Native Language or Culture- English, another, or several
 Human Considerations in Design
 Psychological Characteristics:
 Attitude-Positive, neutral, or negative feeling toward system
 Motivation - Low, moderate, or high due to interest or fear

 Patience - Patience or impatience in accomplishing goal

 Expectations- Kinds and reasonableness

 Stress Level - High, some, or no

 Age - Young middle aged or elderly

 Gender - Male or Female

 Handness - Left, right or ambidextrous (ablety to use the right

and left hands equally well.)
 Disabilities - Blind, defective vision, deafness, motor handicap