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Cognitive Psychology - Summary Slides
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Cognitive Psychology and its Applications - Slides summaryLecture 1: Introduction to Human Factors Engineering
Cognitive psychology
- Focuses on information processing capacities of the
brain
● To uncover the laws of information processing and
behaviour through experiments
● Fundamental questions
● No requirement for application
Human factors
- Physical & Psychological perspectives to the problems of system design
● To apply knowledge by designing systems that work
● To accommodate the limits of human performance
● Directly applied problems
Engineering psychology
- The study of interaction between humans and systems in order to improve performance,
safety, health and usability
● Poulton, 1966: “The aim of engineering psychology is not simply to compare two
possible designs for a piece of equipment [human factors], but to specify the capacities
and limitations of the human [generate experimental database] from which the choice of
a better design should be directly deducible”.
● In short: Designing machines to accommodate the limits of information-processing
capacities of the human brain
Goals of human factors
● Development of generic knowledge
● Enhance efficiency (productivity)
● Ensure safety, reduce error
● Assure tasks are within human capability
● Increase user satisfaction, comfort
● Improve human performance
● Reduce costs (economic, legal, social)
Brief history of human factors
● WWII: designing a human to fit the machine
○ Aviation and weapons
● Technology advancements
○ Increased logical complexity
○ Increased physical complexity
● Humans as information-processing systems
→
1
,Cognitive Psychology and its Applications - Slides summary
Design and evaluation cycle
The Human Factors cycle →
A) Problem solving
○ Most common
○ Cheap, quick “fix”
○ Ultimately most expensive
B) Integral part of design
○ Cockpit
○ Road design
○ Software
○ Consumer electronics
Effective Human Factors
● Task analysis
● Research methods
Task analysis
● Full range of tasks that user performs
● Physical
○ Use of tools, instruments
● Cognitive
○ Reliance on attention, memory, decision-making
● User analysis - aviation example
○ Who are the users → pilots
● Environment analysis (what airplane, distance travelled)
● Determine goals, functions, tasks (in decreasing order of importance)
○ Goal: highest level (flying the airplane)
○ Functions: functionalities (landing, communication, navigation)
○ Tasks: user actions (engaging gears, reducing speed, calling ATC)
● Understand the user’s goal:
○ Same goal can be reached with many different designs
2
,Cognitive Psychology and its Applications - Slides summary
Research methods
● Literature study
● Experimental research (controlled) - “the golden standard”
○ Lab study (flight simulator)
○ Field study
● Descriptive research (less/not controlled) - opposite of experimental research
○ Observations
○ Incident / accident analysis
○ Surveys
○ Interviews
Experiment / experimental research
● Establish causal relationship
● Situation may not be realistic enough
● Population may not representative
● Power may be low
● More realistic scenarios lead to more potential confounds
Surveys, observations
● Pick up general trends
● Pick up subjective experience
● No causal relationship
● “Suitable”answers
● Interpretation of questions, observations
● User’s preferred solution is not always optimal
Benefits of human factors
● Prevention of accidents
● Prevent compensation payments
● Less customer support needed
● Less sick leave, higher job satisfaction
● Higher productivity, more efficiency
● Lower costs for training personnel
Costs of human factor design
● Can be relatively low
○ Consultancy
○ Expert review
○ Tests
● More expensive
○ User-centred design
○ Complete task analysis
○ Surveys
○ Experimental research
3
, Cognitive Psychology and its Applications - Slides summary
● Costs are lower when involved early in design process
Lecture 2: Human Information Processing I
Brain structure and function
Human information processing
● Sensory system
● Perception
● Attention
● Memory
Sensation
● Visible light
● Color
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