COGNITIVE PROCESSES FOR COMPREHENSION (TAM, 2005B; KRAAYENBRINK, 2004)
Perception
8 Perception is about attaching meaning to sensory information e.g. symbols, icons and information on the web site.
9 So how does the mind perceive? The cognitive psychology theory suggests that using presentational cues, the mind attempts to recognise the sensory information, by transforming it into an internal pattern and comparing it with other patterns stored in long term memory. If it matches an existing pattern, then meaning is attached. If it resembles a memorised pattern, then the meaning is guessed. If not learning takes place once the mind discovers the meaning of this new piece of information, sometimes through trial and error for skilled based learning.
10 For visual objects, how the materials are organised to assist the mind to carry out pattern recognition is the key to maximise perception. Strategies to deal with this include the use of Gestalt Laws (see Guideline 2.3 below) and minimisation of cognitive load. As an example, the Gestalt Law of Proximity suggests that items/objects placed close together are perceived as being related conceptually. An application of this law will be to "bundle" related statistical stories together, as they do in electronic newspapers, to provide a visual relationship between the stories.
11 Additional consideration is required for perceiving texts. Clearly a non-native speaker of e.g. Chinese would not be able to understand a Chinese passage which underpins the importance of language familiarity. Providing the context for texts is also key to reducing ambiguity (eg the word "bank" can mean the edge of a river, or a financial institution). In addition, reducing the number of propositions in a sentence will also help (ie reducing propositional complexity) in communication (Kitsch and Keenan, 1973).
12 Furthermore, the presentation of information in layers, ranging from simple to complex concepts, is supported by the Elaboration Theory (Reigeluth, 1992), and Given-New strategy (Haviland and Clark, 1974) for layering out information.
Attention
13 Attention is about focusing the mind on a limited number of stimuli - the things one wants the users' mind to focus on.
14 As the capacity for sensory and working memory is limited, the Filter Theory (Broadbent, 1958) states that when there is cognitive overload, the mind will only allow some information to go through and block out the rest.
15 The issue for web designers is to focus the mind of web users on the things with which we want to communicate. A few strategies can be suggested:
- Minimise cognitive load eg ensure the information is not dense, and provided in 5-9 chunks of information; the information is easily scannable etc.;
- Ensure that the information one wants to release is visible eg chunking up long stories into smaller stories, and bundled them together using presentational cues suggested by the Gestalt Laws; and
- Use alerting techniques eg use rotating headlines, animation etc. to capture attention on the things that matter. See the Statbox on the home page at https://www.abs.gov.au for an example of alerting technique.
Learning
16 Learning is about acquiring skills, e.g. to master the web site to find information, or acquiring knowledge, e.g. statistics on contemporary social/economic conditions.
17 Learning is achieved via encoding the information into long term memory. The information processing activity of comparing patterns recognised by the sensory organs with memorised patterns is important for the mind to determine what to be encoded. If it is already a memorised pattern, no new information is acquired and so no learning takes place. Otherwise, learning takes place once it has been worked out what the new piece of information means.
18 For acquiring skills to master a web site, publishing standards and consistency are the key. Surely one does not want to confuse the mind by continually changing the layouts/patterns/symbols on the web site. Even if there is a proven need to change the web elements, one may want to do so sparingly and stockpile the changes.
19 Another useful strategy is to adopt international well recognised designs and signs on the web site, e.g. adopting a three column (Sklar) design for web pages (Sklar, 2001), or the icon "i" for finding out more information.
20 When there is a change in the design of the web site or any of its associated elements, the mind will have to discover, more often than not, through trial and error, the new meaning, and through which new learning takes place. Of course, learning can be reinforced by practice and once the mind has mastered the skills, automatic processing of the information can take place with little or no cognitive load (Best, 1995).
21 For acquiring knowledge on statistics, we want the learning to be insightful i.e. a good understanding the contexts, caveats and the limitations behind the statistics for determining fitness of use. Contextual linking of metadata to statistical data is the key here, as otherwise there is an imposition on the mind to link different pieces of information together. The corresponding load imposed will generally be a deterrence to users except for those who are really determined to find out the story behind the statistics.
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