Lecture # 1

THE HUMAN
Foundations

• In this part we introduce the fundamental components of an

interactive system: the human user, the computer system itself and
the nature of the interactive process.
• We then present a view of the history of interactive systems by
looking at key interaction paradigms that have been significant.
THE HUMAN

• information Input and Output (I/O): This involves how we interact with
information. We do this through seeing (visual), hearing (auditory),
touch (haptic), and physical actions (movement).
• Memory Storage: Information we receive is stored in different ways:
sensory (temporary), short-term (limited capacity), and long-term
(lasting).
• Information Use: We use information for various purposes like thinking
(reasoning), finding solutions (problem-solving), acquiring skills, and
making occasional errors.
• Emotions Matter: Our emotions influence our abilities and decisions.
• Individual Differences: Everyone is unique in how they process and react
to information due to personal characteristics and experiences.
The Human

• Vison
• Hearing Touch
• Movement
• Memory
Why humans need to understand HCI

• Humans have a limited in their capacity to Process

information
• This has placed important implications on design
• Humans interact with technology is cognitive
• Cognitive refers to anything related to the processes of
thought, knowledge, and mental perception
• Humans process information in cognitive manner
Optical Illusions
The Ponzo illusion is a
geometrical-optical illusion that
was first demonstrated by the
Italian psychologist Mario Ponzo
(1882–1960) in 1911. He suggested
that the human mind judges an
the Muller Lyer illusion
object's size based on its
the Ponzo illusion
background.

. A similar illusion is the Ponzo illusion . Here the top line

appears longer, owing to the distance effect, although both
lines are the same length. These illusions demonstrate that our
perception of size is not completely reliable.
An ambiguous shape
Reading

• Reading Stages: When you read, you go through several steps:

• You see the words as visual patterns.
• Your brain decodes these patterns using its language knowledge.
• You understand the words based on your understanding of language rules
like grammar, meaning, and context.
• Reading Process: When you read, your eyes move quickly (saccades)
and stop briefly (fixations) on words. You understand words during
these stops.
• Word Shape: The way words look (their shape) is important for
recognizing them when you read.
• Screen Reading: Reading on a computer screen is easier when the
text has dark letters on a light background. This makes it more
comfortable for your eyes.
 Hearing : Sound and How We Hear It
• Sound Basics: Sound is when the air moves or vibrates. It helps us know
about things like how far away they are, where they are, and what they
are.
• Parts of Our Hearing System: Our ears help us hear sounds.
• Outer Ear: This is the part you can see, like the flap (pinna) and the tube (auditory
canal). It keeps our inner ear safe and makes sounds louder.
• Middle Ear: It takes the sound vibrations and passes them to the inner ear.
• Inner Ear: In here, chemicals send messages to our brain through the auditory
nerve.
• Sound Qualities: We can tell different things about sounds.
• Pitch: This tells us if a sound is high or low. High-pitched sounds are like squeaky
toys, and low-pitched sounds are like deep voices.
• Loudness: This tells us how strong or weak a sound is. A loud sound is like thunder,
and a soft sound is like a whisper.
• Timbre: This is like the sound's personality. It helps us tell apart sounds that have
the same pitch and loudness, like different musical instruments.
 Touch: Understanding Our Environment
Through Touch
• Importance of Touch: Our sense of touch gives us important information
about our surroundings. It's especially crucial for people who can't see
because it helps them understand and interact with the world.
• How Touch Works: Our skin has special sensors called receptors:
• Thermoreceptors: They tell us if something is hot or cold.
• Nociceptors: These help us sense pain.
• Mechanoreceptors: They sense pressure, and some work instantly while others keep
sensing pressure continuously.
• Sensitive Areas: Some parts of our body are more sensitive to touch than
others. For example, our fingers are really good at feeling things.
• Kinesthesis: This is like knowing where your body parts are without looking.
It's essential for comfort and doing things well. For example, if you're a
touch typist, you need to know where your fingers are on the keyboard
without looking to type quickly and accurately.
Memory

There are three types of memory function:

Sensory memories

Short-term memory or working memory

Long-term memory

Selection of stimuli governed by level of arousal.

sensory memory

• Buffers for Senses: Our brain has special storage for things we sense.
• Iconic Memory: For what we see.
• Echoic Memory: For what we hear.
• Haptic Memory: For what we touch.
• Examples:
• Sparkler Trail: Like when sparklers leave a bright trail in your vision at
fireworks shows. It's a bit like a photo that fades slowly.
• Stereo Sound: Echoic memory is like a quick replay for sounds you just heard.
But it's always getting replaced by new sounds.
• So, think of these memory buffers like quick snapshots for your
senses, but they don't last very long because new information keeps
coming in.
Short-term memory (STM)

• Working memory works as Scratch-pad for temporary recall

• rapid access ~ 70ms

• rapid decay ~ 200ms

• limited capacity - 7± 2 chunks

• Here the digits are grouped or chunked. A generalization of the 7± 2
rule is that we can remember 7± 2 chunks
Examples

212348278493202

0121 414 2626

HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET

THE CAT RAN UP THE TREE

Long-term memory (LTM)

• Actually everything that we know

• Repository for all our knowledge
• slow access ~ 1/10 second
• slow decay, if any
• huge or unlimited capacity

• Two types
• episodic – serial memory of events
• semantic – structured memory of facts, concepts, skills

semantic LTM derived from episodic LTM

 Long-term Memory
Possible architecture of:
Implicit Memory

Explicit Memory
Motor Skills
Perceptual
Semantic learning Other types
Episodic
Memory Memory
Classical
? Conditioning
Affected by Amnesia
 Some Definitions of Memory

• Declarative memory: Memory that can be verbally expressed,

such as memory for events in a person’s past.
• Episodic memory: Memory of a collection of perceptions of
events organized in time and identified by a particular context
• Semantic memory: A memory of facts and general
information.
• Semantic dementia: Loss of semantic memories caused by
progressive degeneration of the neocortex of the lateral
temporal lobes.
• Non declarative memory: Memory whose formation does not
depend on the hippocampal formation; a collective term for
perceptual, stimulus-response, and motor memory.
Episodic Memory = Relational Memory

• What did you do at home last Wednesday?

• A temporal context (last Wednesday)
• A physical context (home)
• A set of memory events (turkey, annoying parents, tiredness,
watching the game)

A relation between the events and the context

 Stages of Explicit Long-Term Memory
Encoding Storage Retrieval

Acquire Establish a
information via ‘permanent
perceptual system record’ Reactivate the
permanent
record
 Object Representation, based
on activation of perceptual &
motor areas

Stimulus

Perceptual word Episodic

Processes banana Memory
Encoding

In Context:
‘today’
action ‘at home’
shape

location

temporal lobe is the hub that

color relates all object’s properties &
context into an integrated memory
A medio-temporal lobe lesion causes Amnesia!
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: carnivorous 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 reception
Props: examination table
waiting in room
medicine
examination
instruments
paying
Tracks: dog needs medicine
dog needs operation
Scripts
• A script represents this default or stereotypical information, allowing
us to interpret partial descriptions or cues fully. A script comprises a
number of elements, which, like slots, can be filled with appropriate
information:
• Entry conditions :Conditions that must be satisfied for the script to
be activated.
• Result: Conditions that will be true after the script is terminated.
• Props: Objects involved in the events described in the script.
• Roles: Actions performed by particular participants.
• Scenes: The sequences of events that occur.
• Tracks: A variation on the general pattern representing an alternative
scenario.
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 is like practicing to remember something. It helps

move information from our short-term memory to long-term
memory.
• Total Time Hypothesis is the idea that the more time you
spend learning something, the more you'll remember. So, if
you study longer, you're likely to remember more of what
you learned.
• Distribution of Practice Effect means you remember things
better when you spread out your learning over time rather
than cramming all at once.
• For example, Post Office workers who learned to type did
better when they had one-hour sessions each week
instead of two or four-hour sessions. It took longer, but
they remembered more.
• And when you're trying to remember stuff, having a good
structure, clear meaning, and familiarity with the
information makes it easier to remember.
LTM - Forgetting
• Decay: This is when you slowly lose information from your memory,
but it happens very, very slowly.
• Interference: Sometimes, new information replaces old information.
There are two types:
• Retroactive Interference: When learning new things makes it hard to
remember old things. For instance, if you get a new phone number, it can be
tough to recall the old one because the new one takes its place.
• Proactive Inhibition: This is when old memories interfere with new ones. For
example, you might drive to your old house instead of the new one because
the old memory is still strong.
• Selective Memory: Our memory is choosy and can be influenced by
emotions. Sometimes, we can even unconsciously decide to forget
something.
• So, forgetting happens slowly, and sometimes new or old information
can get in the way of what we remember, and our emotions can play
a role too.
LTM - retrieval

• Recall is when you bring back information from your memory. You
can use cues like categories or mental pictures to help you
remember.
• Recognition: Knowing You've Seen It Before
• Recognition is easier than recall. It's when you know you've seen or
heard something before. It's like your memory gives you a hint or a
clue that you've come across this information before.
 Thinking
Reasoning
deduction, induction, abduction

Problem solving
Reasoning

• Reasoning is how we use what we know to figure out new stuff.

There are three main types:
• Deductive Reasoning: This is like super confident reasoning. You start
with general rules or facts and use them to be very sure about a
specific conclusion. It's like going from "All humans are mortal" to
"John is a human, so he must be mortal."
• Inductive Reasoning: This is more like educated guessing. You look at
specific examples and make a general guess. For example, if you see
all your friends like pizza, you might guess that most people like pizza.
• Abductive Reasoning: This is like detective thinking. You have some
clues, and you make the best guess you can. It's used when you don't
have all the info but still want to figure something out, like solving a
mystery.
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
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

• A common response to this (was it yours?) is to check

7 E 4 K
the E and the 4.
• However, this uses only positive evidence. In fact, to
test the truth of the statement we need to check
negative evidence: if we can find a card which has an
If a card has a vowel on one side it has an even number on the other
odd number on one side and a vowel on the other we
have disproved the statement. We must therefore check
Is this true?
E and 7.
• (It doesHownotmany
matter
cardswhat
do you is ontothe
need turnother
over toside of the other
find out?
cards: the statement does not say that all even numbers
…. and which cards?
have vowels, just that all vowels have even numbers.)
Abductive reasoning

• reasoning from event to cause

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

• Unreliable:
• can lead to false explanations
Problem Solving

• Problem Solving is about finding answers to new problems using

what you already know. There are different theories about how our
brains do this.

• 1.Gestalt Theory This is one of the earliest theories. It says that

problem solving isn't just copying what you already know or guessing
randomly. It's a mix of using what you know and having creative
insights.
• 2. Problem Space Theory Another theory says that problem solving is
like exploring a map. You start at one place (the problem) and want
to get to another place (the solution). Along the way, you make
moves (like taking steps on the map) using rules. Sometimes, you use
shortcuts (heuristics) to decide what moves to make.
• One way people think and solve problems is by using a strategy
called "means-ends analysis." This means you start with a
problem, like moving a heavy desk, and a desired outcome, like
getting it to the window.
• You figure out the differences between where things are now and
where you want them to be. In this case, it's the desk's location.
• Then, you look at the actions you can take, like carrying or
pushing the desk. But you realize the desk is too heavy to carry,
so you set a new goal: make the desk lighter. You might decide to
take out the drawers to make it easier to move.
• So, means-ends analysis is like breaking a big problem into
smaller steps and finding ways to reach your goal step by step.
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

• James-Lange Theory: This theory says that our emotions

come from how we interpret our body's physical reactions
to something. So, if our heart races, we feel scared.
• Cannon's Theory: Cannon thought emotions are more
about how our mind reacts to things, not just our body. So,
we don't need a specific body reaction to feel an emotion.
• Schacter-Singer Theory: This theory says our emotions
depend on how we see both our body's reactions and the
situation we're in. It's like we put both pieces together to
feel an emotion.
Emotion (cont.)

• Affect is how our body reacts to stuff we experience. It's like our
body's way of responding to what's happening.
• It can change how we deal with situations:
• Positive Affect: When we feel good, it can help us come up with creative
solutions to problems.
• Negative Affect: When we feel bad, it can make us think more narrowly or
find even simple tasks hard.
• Here's a cool quote from Donald Norman: "Feeling good can make
tough tasks easier, and feeling bad can make easy tasks harder."
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
Assignment 1

• Provide Scripts
• For Visiting car work shop
• Restaurant visit with friends
• Buying a laptop