[IxDA Discuss] Cognitive load question

[Robert Hoekman, Jr.]

Yup - that helps a lot. Looks like I've got some reading to do. Thanks
very much.

-r-


On 6/7/06, Lisa deBettencourt <ldebett at gmail.com> wrote:
> I wrote a paper on this topic a few years ago and I put some references from
> my bibliography and some relevant links at the bottom of this email.
>
>  So, bottom line, clutter decreases usability. We can say this is "common
> sense" but you want to know why. Vision is a rapid parallel processor that
> can recognize patterns, extract features, orientation, color, texture and
> movement. It is especially adept at recognizing change. The cog sci world
> says that this happens "preattentively" or prior to us mentally attending to
> something. "Clutter" - or disorganization - gets in our way of finding and
> recognizing patterns in a sea of data. It's a signal to noise ratio issue.
> If the "noise" (poor design) is too high, we can't see any "signal"
> (information). And here's a very important link between preattentive
> processing and design: the Gestalt Theory and Gestalt Laws of Perceptual
> Grouping (similarity, proximity, good continuation, symmetry and
> periodicity). See also:
> http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/webstuff/pcave/gestalt_laws.html.
>
>
>  The basic premise in Gestalt Theory is that we infer relationships about
> and between things when they are close to each other, have similar shapes
> and/or sizes, are of like or similar color, etc. Translate that to web
> design and a very simple example is: group similar items together and
> separate the group from the rest of a page so users will know that the group
> is different from the rest of the page. Subgroup links within the group to
> show similarity between items. Use negative space to communicate different
> subgroups. Like a navigation panel. A group of buttons of the same visual
> style close together will be seen to have a relationship to each other or to
> another object they are close to; say like the buttons below this text box
> I'm typing in in gmail so I can infer that they have something to do with
> some actions I perform on the email as opposed to actions I perform on my
> inbox.
>
>  Now, going back to the clutter topic - or the opposite - organization: a
> well organized design/page/widget allows us to quickly parse it visually and
> preattentively (as opposed to reading it serially) and facilitates our
> ability to infer information about groups and objects (text, pictures,
> buttons, links, etc.). This aids in our ability to  figure out how to make
> use of the design/page/widget and learn from/about it.
>
>  I hope that helps.
>
>  ~Lisa
>
>  Healey, C. G., Booth., K. S. & Enns, J. T.  (July, 1995).  Visualizing
> Real-Time Multivariate Data Using Preattentive Processing.  ACM Transactions
> on Modeling and Computer Simulation.  5(3), 190-221.
>
>  Crapo, A.W., Waisel, L. B., Wallace, W. A. & Willemain, T. R.  (2000).
> Visualization and the Process of Modeling: a cognitive-theoretic view.
> Communications of the ACM.  5(8).
>
>  Lohse, J. (1991). A Cognitive Model for the Perception and Understanding of
> Graphs.  Communications of the ACM.  3(4), 137-144.
>
>  http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/
>
> http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~jimmyd/summaries/triesman1992.html
>
>
> On 6/7/06, Robert Hoekman, Jr. <rhoekmanjr at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
>  [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]
>
> Thanks for the clarification. I knew I was somehow getting multiple concepts
> mixed up. I'm definitely more interested in preattentive processing.
>
> What I'm researching in particular is how clutter affects the usability of a
> page, in general. Any insights?
>
> -r-
>
>