Using cognitive modelling simulations for user interface design decisions

Abstract

This paper argues for the relevance of cognitive modelling and cognitive architectures to support user interface design decisions. From a human-computer interaction point of view, cognitive modelling can have benefits both for theory and model building, and for the design and evaluation of systems usability. Cognitive modelling research applied to human-computer interaction has two complimentary objectives: 1) to develop theories and computational models of human interactive behaviour with information technologies, and 2) to use the computational models as building blocks for the design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive technologies. As an example of application of cognitive modelling to technology design, the paper presents a simulation of interactive behaviour with five different adaptive menu algorithms: random, fixed, stacked, frequency based, and activation based. Results of the simulation indicate that fixed menu positions have an advantage over adaptive menus in taking advantage of the capability of human memory in human-computer systems.