The Human

Capabilities & Limitations

Content
🞆 Human Information Processor
🞆 Sensory and Perceptual Processor
🞆 Senses
🞆 Cognitive Processor
🞆 Psychology & Design of Interactive System
Basic Human Capabilities

🞆 Do not change very rapidly

● Not like Moore’s law!
🞆 Have limits, which are important to
understand
🞆 Our understanding of human capabilities
does change, ie
● Cognitive neuroscience
● Theories of color perception
● Effect of groups and situation on how we act
and react
Human Capabilities
🞆 Why do we care?
● Better design!
● Want to improve user performance

🞆 Knowing the user informs the design

● Senses
● Information processing systems
● Physical responding
 The Human
Humans are limited in their capacity to process
information. This has important implications for design.
🞆Information i/o …
● visual, auditory, haptic, movement
🞆Information stored in memory
● sensory, short-term, long-term
🞆Information processed and applied
● reasoning, problem solving, skill, error
🞆Emotion influences human capabilities
🞆Users share common capabilities. But are individuals
with differences, which should not be ignored.
 Human Information
Processor
🞆 The model comprises three subsystems: the
perceptual system, handling sensory
stimulus (information) from the outside
world, the motor system, which controls
actions, and the cognitive system, which
provides the processing needed to connect
the two.
🞆 Each of these subsystems has its own
processor and memory, although
obviously the complexity of these
varies depending on the complexity of
the tasks the subsystem has to
perform. The model also includes a
number of principles of operation
which dictate the behavior of the
systems under certain conditions.
Introduction
Three components of this system:
1. input–output,
2. memory and
3. processing
In the human, we are dealing with an intelligent
information-processing system, and processing
therefore includes problem solving, learning, and,
consequently, making mistakes. This model is
obviously a simplification of the real situation, since
memory and processing are required at all levels, as
we have seen in the Model Human Processor.
 Input-Output Channels
🞆 A person’s interaction with the outside world occurs
through information being received and sent: input
and output.
🞆 In an interaction with a computer the user receives
information that is output by the computer, and
responds by providing input to the computer – the
user’s output becomes the computer’s input and vice
versa.
 Input-Output Channels
🞆 Input in the human occurs mainly through the
senses and output through the motor control of the
effectors.
🞆 There are five major senses: sight, hearing, touch,
taste and smell.
🞆 First three are the most important to HCI. Taste and
smell do not currently play a significant role in HCI.
 Input-Output Channels
🞆 There are a number of effectors, including the
limbs, fingers, eyes, head and vocal system.
🞆 In the interaction with the computer, the fingers play
the primary role, through typing or mouse control,
with some use of voice, and eye, head and body
position.
Human Major Senses:

“human information processing”

🞆 Vision
🞆 Hearing
🞆 Touch
🞆 Taste
🞆 Smell
The central senses:

🞆 Vision
🞆 Hearing
🞆 Touch
The perceptual system

🞆The mental apparatus that translates sensations

of the physical world as detected by the body’s
sensory system into internal representations in the
mind.

The Human -02

The capabilities and limitation of
visual processing
🞆 Visual processing involves the transformation and
interpretation of image
🞆 Our expectation is an important factor in what will be
interprated
🞆 Eg. Ambiguous shapes, Muller-Lyer, Ponzo, text
🞆 Perception - the process of becoming aware of
objects
🞆 representation - appearance of things
How do you interpret figure a and b?

a
Senses (Our Input System)

Sight, hearing, touch important for

current HCI
Smell, taste ???

Abilities and limitations

affect design
Vision Fundamentals
🞆 Retina has
● 6.5 M cones (color
vision), mostly at
fovea (1/3)˚
● About 150,000 cones
per square millimeter
● Fewer blue sensing
cones than red and
green at fovea
● 100 M rods (night
vision), spread over
retina, none at fovea
🞆 Adaptation
● Switching between
dark and light causes
fatigue
Vision implications

🞆 Color
● Distinguishable hues, optical illusions
● About 9 % of males are red-green
colorblind!
🞆 Acuity
● Determines smallest size we can see
● Less for blue and yellow than for red
and green
Interpreting the signal

🞆 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

detail (limited)
● familiar objects perceived as constant
size
(in spite of changes in visual angle when far away)
Interpreting the signal (cont)
🞆 Brightness
● subjective reaction to levels of light
● affected by luminance of object
● measured by just noticeable difference
● visual acuity increases with luminance as does flicker

🞆 Colour
● made up of hue, intensity, saturation
● cones sensitive to colour wavelengths
● blue acuity is lowest
● 8% males and 1% females colour blind
Interpreting the signal (cont)

🞆 The visual system compensates for:

● movement
● changes in luminance.

🞆 Context is used to resolve ambiguity

🞆 Optical illusions sometimes occur due

to over compensation
 Optical Illusions

the Ponzo illusion the Muller Lyer illusion

Color/Intensity
Discrimination
🞆 The 9 hues most people can identify are:
Color Wavelength
Red 629
Red-Orange 596
Yellow-Orange 582
Green-Yellow 571
Yellow-Green 538
Green 510
Blue-Green 491
Blue 481
Violet-Blue 460
Color Surround Effect

🞆 Our perception of a color is affected by the

surrounding color
Color Surround
Effect of Colored Text on
Colored Background
Black text on white
Gray text on white
Yellow text on white
Light yellow text on white
Green text on white
Light green text on white
Blue text on white
Pale blue text on white
Dark red text on white
Red text on white
Rose text on white
Effect of Colored Text on
Colored Background
Black text on red
Gray text on red
Yellow text on red
Light yellow text on red
Green text on red
Light green text on red
Blue text on red
Pale blue text on red
Dark red text on red
Red text on red
Rose text on red
Effect of Colored Text on
Colored Background
Black text on dark blue
Gray text on dark blue
Yellow text on dark blue
Light yellow text on dark blue
Green text on dark blue
Light green text on dark blue
Blue text on dark blue
Pale blue text on dark blue
Dark red text on dark blue
Red text on dark blue
Rose text on dark blue
Reading
🞆 Several stages:
● visual pattern perceived
● decoded using internal representation of language
● interpreted using knowledge of syntax, semantics,
pragmatics

🞆 Reading involves saccades and fixations

🞆 Perception occurs during fixations
🞆 Word shape is important to recognition
🞆 Negative contrast improves reading from
computer screen
Hearing
🞆 Provides information about environment:
distances, directions, objects etc.
🞆 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
and cause impulses in auditory nerve
🞆 Sound
● pitch – sound frequency
● loudness – amplitude
● timbre – type or quality
Audition (Hearing)
🞆 Capabilities (best-case scenario)
● pitch - frequency (20 - 20,000 Hz)
● loudness - amplitude (30 - 100dB)
● location (5° source & stream separation)
● timbre - type of sound (lots of instruments)
🞆 Often take for granted how good it is
(disk whirring)

🞆 Implications ?
Touch (Haptic)
🞆 Three main sensations handled
by different types of receptors:
● Pressure (normal)
● Intense pressure (heat/pain)
● Temperature (hot/cold)
🞆 Sensitivity, Dexterity,
Flexibility, Speed

🞆 Where important?
● Mouse, Other I/O, VR, surgery
Touch
🞆 Provides important feedback about environment.
🞆 May be key sense for someone who is visually impaired.
🞆 Stimulus received via receptors in the skin:
● thermoreceptors – heat and cold
● nociceptors – pain
● mechanoreceptors – pressure
(some instant, some continuous)

🞆 Some areas more sensitive than others e.g. fingers.

🞆 Kinethesis - awareness of body position
● affects comfort and performance.
Movement
🞆 Time taken to respond to stimulus:
reaction time + movement time
🞆 Movement time dependent on age, fitness etc.
🞆 Reaction time - dependent on stimulus type:
● visual ~ 200ms
● auditory~ 150 ms
● pain ~ 700ms
🞆 Increasing reaction time decreases accuracy in
the unskilled operator but not in the skilled
operator.
Movement (cont)
🞆 Fitts' Law describes the time taken to hit a
screen target:

Mt = a + b log2(D/S + 1)
where: a and b are empirically determined constants
Mt is movement time
D is Distance
S is Size of target

⇒ targets as large as possible

distances as small as possible
 Motor System (Our Output
System)
🞆 Capabilities
● Range of movement, reach, speed,
strength, dexterity, accuracy
● Workstation design, device design
🞆 Often cause of errors
● Wrong button
● Double-click vs. single click
🞆 Principles
● Feedback is important
● Minimize eye movement
The Mind

🞆 And now on to memory and

cognition…
🞆 Cogitive Processor
The “Model Human
Processor”
🞆 A true classic - see Card, Moran and
Newell, The Psychology of Human-
Computer Interaction, Erlbaum, 1983
● Microprocessor-human analogue using
results from experimental psychology
● Provides a view of the human that fits much
experimental data
● But is a partial model
🞆 Focus is on a single user interacting with
some entity (computer, environment, tool)
● Neglects effect of other people
Memory

🞆 Sensory /Perceptual “buffers”

● Brief impressions
🞆 Short-term (working) memory
● Conscious thought, calculations
🞆 Long-term memory
● Permanent, remember everything that
ever happened to us
 Memory

There are three types of memory function:

Sensory memories
Attention
Short-term memory or working memory

Rehearsal
Long-term memory

Selection of stimuli governed by level of arousal.

Perceptual or Sensory
Memory
🞆 Very brief, but accurate representation
of what was perceived
🞆 Physically encoded
🞆 Details decay quickly (70 - 1000 ms
visual; 0.9 - 3.5 sec auditory)
🞆 Limited capacity (7 - 17 letters visual;
4 - 6 auditory)
sensory memory

🞆 Buffers for stimuli received through

senses
● iconic memory: visual stimuli
● echoic memory: aural stimuli
● haptic memory: tactile stimuli
🞆 Examples
● “sparkler” trail
● stereo sound
🞆 Continuously overwritten
Short Term Memory

🞆 Use “chunks”: 7 +- 2 units of

information
🞆 Symbolic, nonphysical acoustic or
visual coding
🞆 Decay 5-226 sec, rehearsal prevents
decay
🞆 Another task prevents rehearsal -
interference
About Chunks

🞆 A chunk is a meaningful grouping of

information – allows assistance from
LTM
🞆 4793619049 vs. 704 687 8376
🞆 NSAFBICIANASA vs. NSA FBI CIA
NASA
🞆 My chunk may not be your chunk
● User and task dependent
Long-Term Memory

🞆 Seemingly permanent & unlimited

File system
🞆 Access is harder, slowerfull
● -> Activity helps (we have a cache)

🞆 Retrieval depends on network of

associations
🞆 How information is perceived, understood
and encoded determines likelihood of
retrieval
LT Memory Structure

🞆 Episodic memory
● Events & experiences in serial form
• Helps us recall what occurred
🞆 Semantic memory
● Structured record of facts, concepts &
skills
• One theory says it’s like a network
• Another uses frames & scripts (like record
structs)
Long-term memory (cont.)

🞆 Semantic memory structure

● provides access to information
● represents relationships between bits of information
● supports inference

🞆 Model: semantic network

● inheritance – child nodes inherit properties of parent
nodes
● relationships between bits of information explicit
● supports inference through inheritance
LTM - semantic network
 Models of LTM - Frames

🞆 Information organized in data structures

🞆 Slots in structure instantiated with values for instance of data
🞆 Type–subtype relationships

DOG COLLIE

Fixed Fixed
legs: 4 breed of: DOG
type: sheepdog
Default
diet: carniverous Default
sound: bark size: 65 cm
Variable Variable
size: colour
colour
 Models of LTM - Scripts
Model of stereotypical information required to interpret situation

Script has elements that can be instantiated with values for context

Script for a visit to the

vet
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
Props: examination table
reception
medicine
waiting in room
instruments
examination
paying
Tracks: dog needs
medicine
dog needs operation
 Models of LTM - Production
rules
Representation of procedural knowledge.

Condition/action rules
if condition is matched
then use rule to determine action.

IF dog is wagging tail

THEN pat dog

IF dog is growling
THEN run away
LTM - Storage of information

🞆 rehearsal
● information moves from STM to LTM

🞆 total time hypothesis

● amount retained proportional to rehearsal time

🞆 distribution of practice effect

● optimized by spreading learning over time

🞆 structure, meaning and familiarity

● information easier to remember
LTM - Forgetting
decay
● information is lost gradually but very slowly

interference
● new information replaces old: retroactive interference
● old may interfere with new: proactive inhibition

so may not forget at all memory is selective …

… affected by emotion – can subconsciously `choose' to
forget
LTM - retrieval

recall
● information reproduced from memory can be assisted
by cues, e.g. categories, imagery

recognition
● information gives knowledge that it has been seen
before
● less complex than recall - information is cue
Memory Characteristics

🞆 Things move from STM to LTM by rehearsal

& practice and by use in context
● Do we ever lose memory? Or just lose the
link?
● What are effects of lack of use?

🞆 We forget things due to decay and

interference
● Similar gets in the way
Recognition over Recall

🞆 We recognize information easier than

we can recall information

🞆 Examples?
🞆 Implications?
 Thinking

• Reasoning
deduction, induction,
abduction
• Problem solving
Deductive Reasoning
🞆 Deduction:
● 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.

🞆 Logical conclusion not necessarily true:

e.g. If it is raining then the ground is dry
It is raining
Therefore the ground is dry
Deduction (cont.)

🞆 When truth and logical validity clash

…
e.g. Some people are babies
Some babies cry
Inference - Some people cry
● Correct?

🞆 People bring world knowledge to bear

Inductive Reasoning
🞆 Induction:
● generalize from cases seen to cases unseen
● e.g. all elephants we have seen have trunks
therefore all elephants have trunks.

🞆 Unreliable:
● can only prove false not true

● … but useful!
🞆 Humans not good at using negative evidence
● e.g. Wason's cards.
 Wason's cards

7 E 4 K
If a card has a vowel on one side it has an even number on the other

Is this true?

How many cards do you need to turn over to find out?

…. and which cards?

Abductive reasoning

🞆 reasoning from event to cause

● e.g. Sam drives fast when drunk.
● If I see Sam driving fast, assume drunk.

🞆 Unreliable:
● can lead to false explanations
Problem solving
🞆 Process of finding solution to unfamiliar task
using knowledge.
🞆 Several theories.
🞆 Gestalt
● problem solving both productive and reproductive
● productive draws on insight and restructuring of problem
● attractive but not enough evidence to explain `insight' etc.
● move away from behaviourism and led towards information
processing theories
Problem solving (cont.)

Problem space theory

● problem space comprises problem states
● problem solving involves generating states using legal
operators
● heuristics may be employed to select operators
e.g. means-ends analysis
● operates within human information processing system
e.g. STM limits etc.
● largely applied to problem solving in well-defined areas
e.g. puzzles rather than knowledge intensive areas
Problem solving (cont.)
🞆 Analogy
● analogical mapping:
• novel problems in new domain?
• use knowledge of similar problem from similar domain
● analogical mapping difficult if domains are semantically
different

🞆 Skill acquisition
● skilled activity characterized by chunking
• lot of information is chunked to optimize STM
● conceptual rather than superficial grouping of problems
● information is structured more effectively
Errors and mental models
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

🞆 mistakes
● wrong intention
● cause: incorrect understanding
humans create mental models to explain behaviour.
if wrong (different from actual system) errors can occur
 Emotion
🞆 Various theories of how emotion works
● James-Lange: emotion is our interpretation of a
physiological response to a stimuli
● Cannon: emotion is a psychological response to a stimuli
● Schacter-Singer: emotion is the result of our evaluation of
our physiological responses, in the light of the whole
situation we are in
🞆 Emotion clearly involves both cognitive and physical
responses to stimuli
 Emotion (cont.)
🞆 The biological response to physical stimuli is called
affect

🞆 Affect influences how we respond to situations

● positive → creative problem solving
● negative → narrow thinking

“Negative affect can make it harder to do

even easy tasks; positive affect can make
it easier to do difficult tasks”
(Donald Norman)
Emotion (cont.)

🞆 Implications for interface design

● stress will increase the difficulty of
problem solving
● relaxed users will be more forgiving of
shortcomings in design
● aesthetically pleasing and rewarding
interfaces will increase positive affect
Individual differences

🞆 long term
– sex, physical and intellectual abilities
🞆 short term
– effect of stress or fatigue
🞆 changing
– age

Ask yourself:
will design decision exclude section of user
population?
Psychology and the Design
of Interactive System
🞆 Some direct applications
● e.g. blue acuity is poor
⇒ blue should not be used for important detail

🞆 However, correct application generally requires

understanding of context in psychology, and an
understanding of particular experimental conditions

🞆 A lot of knowledge has been distilled in

● guidelines (chap 7)
● cognitive models (chap 12)
● experimental and analytic evaluation techniques (chap 9)