Cognitive User Models

• Cognitive user models help understand how users think
• Understanding user thought processes can help design intuitive and efficient technologies

Learning Outcomes

• Define cognitive user models and their significance in human-computer interaction (HCI)
• Explain key concepts related to cognitive user modeling
• These concepts are cognition, artifacts, GOMS, and perceptual-motor skills
• Identify methods for creating cognitive user models to improve interface design and user experience

Cognitive user models

• Frameworks describe thought processes to aid designers in creating systems for user needs
• User behavior is predicted and explained when interacting with computer systems.
• Models account for how users think, make decisions, and complete tasks
• Developers can create systems aligning with users’ mental processes by incorporating these models into design
• Cognitive models enhance usability, reduce errors, and improve user satisfaction.

Cognition

• Refers to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and understanding
• This is achieved through thought, experience, and the senses
• Includes perception, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving
• Understanding cognition helps predict how users will respond to system designs in HCI
• Cognitive recall is demonstrated when a user remembers how to navigate a familiar website

How Cognitive Models Work

• Copying cognitive processes people go through to complete a task
• Aids in designing and evaluating alternative interfaces in HCI
• Can replace a human user to predict performance on a system before implementation or prototyping
• Cognitive models may be used to understand human behavior in psychological research
• It is building a tool or a model which can help in understanding human behaviour under certain assumptions

Usefulness to Psychologists

• Cognitive models are useful tools for psychologists
• Cognitive models for HCI have a completely different goal altogether
• This goal is to make interfaces "better" for users

Information access

• Prototype design is helpful only if we know it exists, recall its existence when needed, and can find it
• This view of information adds a cognitive dimension to research into information access

Why Cognitive User Models Matter in the Philippines

• Internet connectivity varies and digital literacy levels differ
• Cognitive user models ensure platforms are usable by a wide range of Filipinos
• This includes students attending online classes via DepEd Commons
• And farmers who use apps like FarmWatch for weather forecasts

Filipino Contexts and Examples

• Transportation apps like Angkas and JoyRide predict peak hours and common routes, making commuting more efficient
• Online shopping apps, like Lazada and Shopee, use cognitive models to show flash sales during payday weekends
• The apps understand local buying habits
• Banking apps, like BPI and BDO, simplify transactions, catering to users with varying tech skills
• The LTFRB's online appointment system initially frustrated users
• Updates based on user feedback improved its usability.

GOMS Model

• GOMS is a cognitive model that breaks down user interactions into four components
• Goals: What the user wants to accomplish
• Operators: Basic actions performed, e.g., clicking a button
• Methods: Procedures used to accomplish goals
• Selections: Decisions made when choosing between methods
• Goal (saving a file)
• Operators (Move the mouse, click "File," select "Save")
• Methods (Using a keyboard shortcut or navigating through the menu)
• Selections (Choosing the fastest method according to familiarity)

Artifacts

• A tool or device created to support cognitive tasks in HCI
• Artifacts can be physical (e.g., keyboards) or digital (e.g., software interfaces)
• A calendar app is an example
• This acts as a cognitive artifact by helping users manage schedules

Cognitive Artifacts in Filipino Contexts

• Traditional Tools: Wall calendars featuring fiesta dates or tying a ribbon on a finger as a reminder
• Digital Tools: Setting alarms for electricity bill deadlines via Meralco Mobile or using PayMaya for tuition payments
• Everyday Cognitive Aids: Jeepney signage and color-coded MRT lines aid commuters' mental maps

Perceptual-Motor Skills

• Involves the coordinated use of sensory information and physical movement to interact with systems
• Moving a cursor with a mouse or tapping on a touchscreen
• This requires perceptual-motor coordination

Embodied Cognition Task Artifact Triad (ETA)

• User's ability to interact with an interface is dependent upon the properties
  • The embodied cognition or cognitive, perceptual, and motor capacities of the user
  • The task(s) that the user is engaged in
  • The artifact or "device" that the user manipulates or utilizes in order to perform the task(s)

ETA Triad Examples

• Embodied Cognition: Using smartphones as flashlights during frequent brownouts
• Task: Booking food delivery during typhoons using FoodPanda or GrabFood
• Artifact: Apps like Lalamove facilitate sending relief goods during calamities

Cognitive Strategies

• Methods users employ to complete tasks efficiently
• Quick Access: Using voice commands on Google Assistant to call contacts
• Routine Use: Memorizing the fewest taps needed to transfer money via GCash
• Shortcut Habits: Regularly using the "Reorder" button on the McDonald's PH app for frequent orders
• A cognitive strategy indicates the steps a person takes to accomplish a piece of work in HCI
• Cognitive strategies work on multiple time scales
• Ranging from issuing a computer command every one to ten seconds
• And making multiple eye and hand movements per second to issue those commands