ATTENTION & MEMORY CONSTRAINTS in HCI
June 23, 2008
ATTENTION & MEMORY CONSTRAINTS
Attention means taking possession of the mind in clear and vivid form of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. It requires withdrawal from something in order to deal effectively with others.
Focused attention:
This is the ability to attend to one event from what amounts to a mass of competing stimuli in the environment. The streams of information we choose to attend to, will tend to be relevant to the activities or intentions that we have at that time.
Divided Attention
This is attending to more than one thing at a time. Attention is either voluntary or involuntary.
Voluntary attention:
This is when the salient characteristics of the competing stimuli grab our attention.
Focusing attention at the interface
The manner in which we display our attention has a tremendous bearing on how effectively we can interact with the system. The importance of understanding the phenomenon of attention is useful in:
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Catching the attention of potential users.
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Guiding their attention to the relevant information on the display
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Focusing their attention on what they need to be looking at or listening to on any given stage.
Techniques of focusing attention
Structuring information
One way in which interfaces can be designed to help users find the information they need is to structure the interface so that it is easy to navigate through. This requires:
- Presenting just the right amount of information, neither too much nor too little as in both cases the user will have to spend considerable time scanning either through a clattered screen or numerous screens of information.
- By grouping and ordering data into meaningful parts. This meaningful structuring of information makes it easier to perceive and guide attention readily to the appropriate information.
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Color
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Alerting techniques e.g. reverse video, flashing, pop up screen e.t.c.
In using the various methods it should be noted that :
- Important information which needs immediate attention should always be displayed in a prominent place to catch the user’s eye.
- Less urgent information should be displayed in less prominent but specific areas of the screen so that the user will know where to look when the information is required.
- Information that is not needed very often should not be displayed, but made available on request e.g. the help facility.
Note: The two cognitive processes i.e. perception and memory are considered inter-dependent. In order to attend to something the user needs to be able to perceive it.
Multitasking and Interruption
Multitasking is the ability to carry out a number of tasks during the same period of time by alternating between them.
In the real life environment, interruptions are common occurrences and thus multitasking is inevitable. When an activity is attended to, it is said to be foregrounded while the other activities are momentarily suspended.
While most people show great feasibility in coping with multitasking they are also prone to distractions. On returning to a suspended activity it is possible for them to have forgotten where they were in an activity as a result they may not restart where they left off, but they will commence at a different point of entry.
To cope with this problem people use cognitive aids i.e. external representations that are intended to gain our attention at a time relevant to the tasks that need to be performed.
Relevance of Multitasking to HCI
Ideally systems should be designed to provide information systematically about the status of an activity in terms of what has been done and what correctly needs to be ironed out.
If users are distracted from the activities at hand the system should be able to inform them of where they were in that activity when they return to it.
In addition routine background tasks that are prone to be forgotten especially when users are distracted e.g. saving files should be brought to the users attention by displaying remainder prompts at the interface.
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