Tutorial: 7. Cognitive Factors in Design: Basic Phenomena in Human Memory and Problem Solving

Thomas T. Hewett, Drexel University

Benefits
You will learn the theoretical underpinnings of how people remember and how they solve problems. You will also learn how to use that knowledge during product design to interpret user interface guidelines and also to go beyond the guidelines.

Origins
This was a top-rated tutorial at CHI 95, CHI 96 and CHI 97.

Features

• intuitively understand a variety of phenomena through direct, hands-on exposure
• develop a basis for making educated design choices
• relate cognitive phenomena to human-computer interaction
• undertake self-directed study in cognitive psychology
• obtain a useful set of teaching materials for psychological aspects of human-computer interaction.

Audience
Anyone interested in human-computer interaction and interactive system design who has not done course work in cognitive psychology. Not intended for the human factors specialist, for the individual with extensive training in psychology or for the individual seeking a state-of-the-art literature review of the latest research in cognitive psychology.

Presentation
Interactive presentation and hands-on demonstrations.

Instructor
Tom Hewett is Professor of Psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, where he teaches courses on Cognitive Psychology, Problem Solving and Creativity, Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction and the Psychology of Interaction Design. Some of his papers have described the structure and implications of a taxonomy for thinking about instructional computing. Dr. Hewett chaired the SIGCHI Curriculum Development Group which developed recommendations for undergraduate curricula and courses for HCI. He served for four years as vice-chair for operations of SIGCHI and was one of the general co-chairs for the CHI 94 conference.

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