Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Conference contribution/Paper › peer-review
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Hard Lessons
T2 - Effort-Inducing Interfaces Benefit Spatial Learning
AU - Cockburn, Andy
AU - Kristensson, Per Ola
AU - Alexander, Jason
AU - Zhai, Shumin
PY - 2007
Y1 - 2007
N2 - Interface designers normally strive for a design that minimises the user’s effort. However, when the design’s objective is to train users to interact with interfaces that are highly dependent on spatial properties (e.g. keypad layout or gesture shapes) we contend that designers should consider explicitly increasing the mental effort of interaction. To test the hypothesis that effort aids spatial memory, we designed a “frost-brushing” interface that forces the user to mentally retrieve spatial information, or to physically brush away the frost to obtain visual guidance. We report results from two experiments using virtual keypad interfaces – the first concerns spatial location learning of buttons on the keypad, and the second concerns both location and trajectory learning of gesture shape. The results support our hypothesis, showing that the frost-brushing design improved spatial learning. The participants’ subjective responses emphasised the connections between effort, engagement, boredom, frustration, and enjoyment, suggesting that effort requires careful parameterisation to maximise its effectiveness.
AB - Interface designers normally strive for a design that minimises the user’s effort. However, when the design’s objective is to train users to interact with interfaces that are highly dependent on spatial properties (e.g. keypad layout or gesture shapes) we contend that designers should consider explicitly increasing the mental effort of interaction. To test the hypothesis that effort aids spatial memory, we designed a “frost-brushing” interface that forces the user to mentally retrieve spatial information, or to physically brush away the frost to obtain visual guidance. We report results from two experiments using virtual keypad interfaces – the first concerns spatial location learning of buttons on the keypad, and the second concerns both location and trajectory learning of gesture shape. The results support our hypothesis, showing that the frost-brushing design improved spatial learning. The participants’ subjective responses emphasised the connections between effort, engagement, boredom, frustration, and enjoyment, suggesting that effort requires careful parameterisation to maximise its effectiveness.
KW - Skill acquisition
KW - education
KW - training
KW - gesture stroke
KW - pen input
KW - text entry
KW - spatial memory
KW - learning
U2 - 10.1145/1240624.1240863
DO - 10.1145/1240624.1240863
M3 - Conference contribution/Paper
SN - 978-1-59593-593-9
T3 - CHI '07
SP - 1571
EP - 1580
BT - Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PB - ACM
CY - New York, NY, USA
ER -