[IxDA Discuss] Spatial reasoning and spatial memory

[Barbara Ballard]

On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 5:47 AM, Morten Hjerde <mhjerde at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm currently thinking a lot about spatial reasoning and spatial memory
>  related to small screens.
>
>  Does anyone know about additional resources or research on spatial memory?

I don't have time to dig deep into my human factors articles and
research right now. Check in, though, with the US Air Force human
factors guidelines.

Anecdotally, we frequently test applications using one softkey
paradigm (e.g., Options on left, Back on right) on devices with
another softkey paradigm (primary action on left, menu on right, Back
on Back button).

What we've found is that after about 20-25 minutes of using an
application and then returning to the native UI is that we start
committing errors. Lots of errors. While using something we are very
familiar with, and even expert at.


Seriously check out aeronautics. There was a WWII plane in which the
seat ejection lever was in the same location and the same action as
another aircraft's landing gear deployment. Many airplanes were lost
due to the muscle memory. What's worse is the B-57 Canberra, deployed
in the 60's, had the same problem. Similarly, there was a
specification for a cockpit layout for a specific aircraft. However,
manufacturer A made it left-to-right, and manufacturer B made it
right-to-left. The result was even more errors.



-- 
Barbara Ballard
barbara at littlespringsdesign.com 1-785-838-3003