HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION SECOND EDITION
Dix, Finlay, Abowd and Beale

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Chapter 1 The human Long-term memory processes Page 35

Sentences are easier still to memorize. Bartlett performed experiments on remembering meaningful information (as opposed to meaningless such as Ebbinghaus used) [20]. In one such experiment he got subjects to learn a story about an unfamiliar culture and then retell it. He found that subjects would retell the story replacing unfamiliar words and concepts with words which were meaningful to them. Stories were effectively translated into the subject's own culture. This is related to the semantic structuring of long-term memory: if information is meaningful and familiar, it can be related to existing structures and more easily incorporated into memory.

Chapter 1 The human Long-term memory processes Page 35

Forgetting is also affected by emotional factors. In experiments, subjects given emotive words and non-emotive words found the former harder to remember in the short term but easier in the long term. Indeed, this observation tallies with our experience of selective memory. We tend to remember positive information rather than negative (hence nostalgia for the 'good old days'), and highly emotive events rather than mundane.

Chapter 1 The human Long-term memory processes Page 36

However, recall can be assisted by the provision of retrieval cues which enable the subject quickly to access the information in memory. One such cue is the use of categories. In an experiment subjects were asked to recall lists of words, some of which were organized into categories and some of which were randomly organized. The words which were related to a category were easier to recall than the others [26]. Recall is even more successful if subjects are allowed to categorize their own lists of words during learning. For example, consider the following list of words:

Chapter 1 The human Long-term memory processes Page 36

Now make up a story which links the words using as vivid imagery as possible. Now try to recall as many of the words as you can. Did you find this easier than the previous experiment where the words were unrelated?

Chapter 1 The human 1.4 Thinking: reasoning and problem solving Page 37

Look at the list below of numbers and associated words:

Chapter 1 The human 1.4 Thinking: reasoning and problem solving Page 37

Notice that the words sound similar to the numbers. Now think about the words one at a time and visualize them, in as much detail as possible. For example, for '1', think of a large, sticky iced bun, the base spiralling round and round, with raisins in it, covered in sweet, white gooey icing. Now do the rest, using as much visualization as you can muster: imagine how things would look, smell, taste, sound, and so on.

Chapter 1 The human 1.4 Thinking: reasoning and problem solving Page 37

This should take you about the 30 seconds allowed. Then hide the collection and try and recall the numbers in order, the associated reference word, and then the image associated with that word. You should find that you can recall the 10 associated items practically every time. The technique can be easily extended by extending your reference list.

Chapter 1 The human Problem space theory Page 42

Identify the goals and operators involved in the problem 'delete the second paragraph of the document' on a word processor. Now use a word processor to delete a paragraph and note your actions, goals and subgoals. How well did they match your earlier description?

Chapter 1 The human Problem space theory Page 42

Assume you have a document open and you are at some arbitrary position within it. You also need to decide which operators are available and what their preconditions and results are. Based on an imaginary word processor we assume the following operators (you may wish to use your own WP package):

Chapter 2 The computer The QWERTY keyboard Page 56

The QWERTY arrangement of keys is not optimal for typing, however. The reason for the layout of the keyboard in this fashion can be traced back to the days of mechanical typewriters. Hitting a key caused an arm to shoot towards the carriage, imprinting the letter on the head on the ribbon and hence onto the paper. If two arms flew towards the paper in quick succession from nearly the same angle, they would often jam -- the solution to this was to set out the keys so that common combinations of consecutive letters were placed at different ends of the keyboard, which meant that the arms would usually move from alternate sides. One appealing story relating to the key layout is that it was also important for a salesman to be able to type the word 'typewriter' quickly in order to impress potential customers: the letters are all on the top row!

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