ABSTRACT
Human Information Processing Approach . . . . . . . . . 20
Information-Processing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Signal Detection Methods and Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chronometric Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Speed-Accuracy Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Psychophysiological and Neuroimaging Methods . . . . . . . 22
Information-Processing Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Discrete and Continuous Stage Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sequential Sampling Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Information Processing in Choice Reaction Tasks . . . 24
Stimulus Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Response Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Response Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Memory in Information Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Short-Term (Working) Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Long-Term Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Other Factors Affecting Retrieval of Earlier Events . . . . . . 29
Attention in Information Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Models of Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Automaticity and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Problem Solving and Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
New Developments and Alternative Approaches . . . . 33
Cognitive Neuroscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Ecological Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Cybernetic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Situated Cognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
It is natural for an applied psychology of humancomputer interaction to be based theoretically
on information-processing psychology. —Card, Moran, & Newell, 1983
Human-computer interaction (HCI) is fundamentally an information-processing task. In interacting with a computer, a user has specific goals and subgoals in mind. The user initiates the interaction by giving the computer commands that are directed toward accomplishing those goals. The commands may activate software programs designed to allow specific types of tasks, such as word processing or statistical analysis to be performed. The resulting computer output, typically displayed on a screen, must provide adequate information for the user to complete the next step, or the user must enter another command to obtain the desired output from the computer. The sequence of interactions to accomplish the goals may be long and complex, and several alternative sequences, differing in efficiency, may be used to achieve these goals. During the interaction, the user is required to identify displayed information, select responses based on the displayed information, and execute those responses. The user must search the displayed information and attend to the appropriate aspects of it. She or he must also recall the commands and resulting consequences of those commands for different programs, remember information specific to the task that is being performed, and make decisions and solve problems during the process. For the interaction between the computer and user to be efficient, the interface must be designed in accordance with the user’s information processing capabilities.
