ABSTRACT
Cognitive science concerns the psychological processes that enable people to make sense of the environment and decide what action might be appropriate, such as attention, visual perception, learning, memory. In particular, the fields of visual perception, attention and memory are relevant to visitor-object interaction. The effects and perceptions of design are largely determined by cognition. Visual perception covers, among other factors, the way things are visually organised, colour, space and object recognition. Affect and cognition are relevant to the museum experience because together they contribute to one's perception of an exhibit. Each museum visitor comes with a set of visual values and subjective aesthetic taste, which are largely culturally determined. Flow appears to be similar to the state described in philosophy as an aesthetic experience. The concepts of beauty and usability, found on an understanding of cognitive psychology, can greatly assist in the design of a successful museum experience.
