Cognition and computer systems design: interface metaphors, theories and expert programmers' abstraction ability

摘要

The symposium will illustrate ways in which cognitive approaches may usefully be applied to computer systems and interface design. Three papers using different theoretical frameworks from the cognitive repertoire will be presented. A common thread is the interaction between computer interfaces and the dynamic cognitive process of learning. The learning involved is represented in different ways: in the development of users' mental models (Kooman and Hurts); in the change from novice to expert (Ryan and Al-Qaimari); or more directly as implicit and explicit learning theories (Quealy and Langan-Fox) with resultant expectations of student learning. The symposium wil demonstrate and discuss the difficulties and constraints in designing such studies and the applicability of such approaches to practice in systems and interface design.