People: Cognitive

1. People: Cognitive

2. People in Design • When we take in information using the senses, the brain has to do something with that sensory information. • It takes 100 miliseconds for information we see to go to the brain and another 100 miliseconds for mind to tell body what to do

3. People in Design • Different people perceive the same thing in different ways, because everyone is different.

4. People in Design • I am going to flash an image to you for 10 seconds, I want you to memorise what you see, but don’t write down anything for the moment.

5. People in Design

6. People in Design • Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember.

7. People in Design • Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember. • Compare your descriptions in groups of two or three, where are your descriptions similar and where are they different?

8. People in Design • Now individually spend a few minutes writing down everything you can remember. • Compare your descriptions in groups of two or three, where are your descriptions similar and where are they different? • Did any of you draw the image as well as write about it?

9. People in Design • In this lesson we are going to look at four aspects of cognition: • Attention • Memory • Language • Learning

10. Attention

11. People in Design • Attention Is regulated by short term memory • It is a mental system that enables us to focus on some information while ignoring other information • Concentration is the ability to focus on the task at hand while ignoring distractions

12. People in Design • Learning to drive (or ride a bike) is a perfect example of a new element of learning becoming automaticy (moving into ‘automaticity’ so we never need to think about all the multiple tasks involved.

13. People in Design • This process takes different amounts of time for everyone. You are not comparing like with like. This is why it is hard for some people to pass their tests. Some people (those with Dyspraxia) may NEVER pass driving tests because they just cant manage their attention resources on the many tasks required simultaneously.

14. People in Design • Two kinds of attention: • Passive Attention - controlled by external stimuli (e.g. loud noise) • Active Attention - controlled by the individual’s goals (e.g. TV)

15. People in Design YELLOW RED GREEN BLUE WHITE • GREEN • RED • YELLOW • BLUE • GREEN • BLUE • RED YELLOW WHITE • YELLOW • GREEN • RED • BLUE • Speak aloud the colour of each word:

16. People in Design GREEN YELLOW RED PURPLE WHITE • PINK • BLACK • RED • YELLOW • BLACK • WHITE YELLOW • RED • PURPLE • RED • PINK • YELLOW • GREEN • Now these words (say the colour now the word):

17. People in Design • This is the Stroop effect • When the name of a colour is printed in a colour not denoted by the name (e.g., the word "red" printed in blue ink instead of red ink), naming the colour of the word takes longer and is more prone to errors than when the colour of the ink matches the name of the colour.

18. John Ridley Stroop • Born March 21st, 1897 • Died Sept 1st, 1973 • Born in Tennessee, USA • Identified the Stroop Effect. • Psychologist, Educationalist, Instructor, and American Man of Science.

19. People in Design • What can interfere with attention in the environment? • Everyone has different preferences for how they work best. Music and lighting can be very important as well as time of day. • Can you sleep with the light on? • Can you sleep with music or the TV on?

20. People in Design • There are two types of attention • Selective attention – ability to focus on one thing while ignoring everything else • Divided attention – being able to do two things at the same time. This works only if using two different senses (unless it is two language tasks like talking and typing).

21. People in Design • QUESTION: • Can you listen to a sports commentary while driving the car without it impairing your driving?

22. People in Design • ANSWER: • No. If you start visualising the game in progress that detracts from the attentional resources you have left to drive with. • It isn't really even good to use the phone in he car even with hands free. • The conversation should be very short and not require much attention (e,g, ‘I will be home in 30 minutes’)

23. People in Design • Can we focus attention on two tasks at the same time? • Pat your head and rub your stomach • Talk on the phone and type • Chop vegetables and watch the TV • Turn right foot clockwise and draw figure of 6 in the air!

24. People in Design Automaticity • New tasks take all our attentional resources • Learning to drive • Learning to write • Tasks that we have practiced become automatic • Driving and talking • Listening to a lecture and taking notes

25. Memory

26. People in Design • There are four types of memory essential for information processing and retention • Sensory Memory • Working and Short-Term Memory • Long-Term Memory

27. P E R C E P T I O N Short-Term Memory Sensory Memory Long-Term Memory Working Memory

28. SensoryMemory

29. People in Design • Sensory Memory • This allows individuals to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimulus has ceased • It is composed of three types • Iconic Memory • Echoic Memory • Haptic Memory

30. People in Design • Iconic Memory • For visual information, very brief (<1000 ms). • Echoic Memory • For auditory information, for a short period of time (3–4 seconds). • Haptic Memory • For touch information, for a short period of time (2 seconds).

31. Short-Termand WorkingMemory

32. People in Design • The terms “Short-term memory” and “Working memory” are often used interchangeably but there are some differences between them. • Their relationship is described differently by various theories, but it is generally acknowledged that the two concepts are distinct.

33. People in Design • “Short-term memory” is the capacity to store information long enough for us to understand, and respond to it (e.g. memorising a phone number) • “Working memory” is the capacity to organise and manipulate information (e.g. holding intermediate results in mental arithmetic)

34. People in Design • More on Short-Term Memory • Information that is stored in Short-Term Memory disappears very quickly unless something is done to retain it. • George A. Miller determined a “magic” number the indicates how many chunks of information we can retain.

35. George Armitage Miller • Born Feb 3, 1920 • Born in Charleston, West Virginia • Psychologist and Cognitive Scientist • founder of WordNet • Discovered “Miller’s Magic Number”

36. Miller’s Magic Number 7 ± 2

37. Miller’s Magic Number • George A. Miller looked at Memory span - which is a long list of items (e.g., digits, letters, words) that a person can repeat back immediately after presentation in correct order. • Miller observed that memory span of young adults is approximately 7 chunks. He noticed that memory span is approximately the same for stimuli with vastly different amount of information.

38. Long-TermMemory

39. People in Design • Long-Term Memory • The capacity of our long-term memory is possibly infinite. It is believed that we have a record of all we have ever said, read, written, done, seen or experienced. • The problem, however, is accessing this information!

40. People in Design • Long-Term Memory • What is your earliest memory? • Can you remember the first day at school? • What specific dates can you remember? • Can you remember names or faces? • Does any music/ a smell remind you of the past?

41. People in Design • What are good strategies for putting information into Long-Term Memory? • e.g. After the lecture: • Review the information immediately • Review again the next day • Review again in a week • Review after a month • Review again for exams

42. People in Design • Other strategies? • Songs and Rhymes • Diagrams • Concept Maps • Acronyms • Acrostics • The Method of Loci

43. People in Design Attention Memory • Have you even tried to do a MindMap? Attention Memory Perception Perception Cognition Language Language Actions Actions

44. Language

45. People in Design • What is language? • We tend to think of a language as being speech (or sign) • The sounds of spoken language and the shapes and movements of signs are symbols that represent our understanding about society and the world. • They operate under a rule system which we call a grammar.

46. People in Design • Language Processing • Perception combines with Attention, Learning, and Memory in language processing. • Generally we describe language processing in terms of two processes • Language Perception (Understanding of something said/signed) • Language Production (Formulation of something you say/sign)

47. People in Design • Language Perception • involves the understanding and • interpretation of some sounds • (or movements) • hear/see a message • holds it in working memory • break the message into grammatical items • constructs the meaning

48. People in Design • Language Perception • The difficulty with receiving other people’s language input is that we don’t always arrive at the exact meaning the person intended.

49. People in Design • Language Perception • Educationist Diana Laurillard points out that this can be a real problem for teaching, and has developed a model called the Conversational Framework to describe the issue.

50. People in Design • Language Perception • Laurillard’sConversational Framework