Human Computer Interaction

Memory and Fitt’s Law

Human Memory
The ability to learn and recall
Three stages of formation and retrieval
of memory
◦ Encoding
◦ Storing
◦ Retrieval
In fact:
• We are ‘thinking machines’
• With particular components
• Including various storage capabilities with different
performance characteristics
Memory Types
Sensory Memory

Received from senses

• Buffered memory
• Constantly overwritten by new information
• Depends on the stimuli coming into our senses
• Response time < 1 sec
Types of Sensory Memory
• Sensory memory for each channel
1. Iconic memory (visual stimuli)
2. Echoic memory (aural stimuli)
3. Haptic memory (touch stimuli)

• We can focus our attention selectively, choosing to attend to one thing rather than another. This
is due to the limited capacity of our sensory and mental processes.
• If we did not selectively attend to the stimuli coming into our senses, we would be overloaded.
• We can choose which stimuli to attend to, and this choice is governed to an extent by our level
of interest or need.
Short Term Memory
Working memory
Limited capacity (7±2 digits by Miller experiment)
Scratch pad for temporary recall of information
Access Time < 200ms
Store intermediate stages of information
• Multiplication in mind
• Reading a passage
Long Term Memory
Main resource
Long term storage of information
Contains factual information, experimental knowledge
• In fact – everything we know
• Slow Access Time < 10th of a second
• Huge capacity
• Forgetting occurs too slowly
Types of Long-Term Memory
Episodic memory
• represents our memory of events and experiences
in a serial form
• any task with predefined sequence of steps

Semantic memory
• a structured record of facts, concepts and skills
that we have acquired
• derived from episodic memory
• help to learn new facts, concepts and experience
Semantic Memory
STM Improvements
• Use Miller’s 7 ± 2 Rule
• Chunk the information 714456783254
• 714 456 783 254
• Information Organization
• HEC ATR ANU PTH ETR EET
• Recency Effect
• easier to recall the last thing
Loss of Memory
Two main theories of forgetting:
1. Decay
May eventually be forgotten logarithmically
2. Interference
Acquire new information may interfere old information.
a) Retroactive: harder for new than older information, new mask the old.
b) Proactive: Old memory traced break through new information

Forgetting also affected by emotional factors.

Records with experience of selective information
Remember positive rather than negative information (e.g, “good old days”)
Retrieval of Memory
There is evidence, we may not lose information
completely from long-term memory.
1. Proactive embarrassment demonstrates the recovery of old
information even after it has been ‘lost’ by interference.
2. Secondly, there is the ‘tip of the tongue’ experience, which
indicates that some information is present but cannot be
satisfactorily accessed.
3. Thirdly, information may not be recalled but may be
recognized, or may be recalled only with prompting.
Psychological Differences
• People are psychologically different from one another
• Differences can be in personality, emotions, ability to
handle stress...
• Some people have good memory, others less
• Some are good at words, others at numbers
• Some people can not remember long numbers

All people are better at recognizing things rather than recalling

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Psychological Differences (Models)
• People have different conceptual mental models
• They built models through
• Interacting with systems,
• Observing the relationship between actions and the behavior
of the system
• Reading any manuals or help provided with the system

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Physical Differences
• People have different set of physical characteristics such as
hearing, touch, smell and sight
• There could be disabilities in physical characteristics
• communication disorders, hearing impairments, visual
impairments, motor impairments, impairments in mental
functionality and learning
• Impairments has to be considered in the designs

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 Fitts’s Law
Mathematical formula to describe motor control
Relates the time required to move to a target
A function of the distance to the target size of the target
itself
𝑇 T𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 = K log 2(D/S+0.5)
D is distance between the current position and the target
S is the size of the target
k is ~100 ms Effort:
use prime and magic pixels.
Make your interactive elements easy to click and easy to find.
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Fitts’s Law

D is 15 cm 𝑇 T𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑜 𝑚 𝑜𝑣𝑒 = K l o g 2(D/S+0.5)

Log2 X= log10 (X)/log(2)
S is 2 cm

𝑇 T𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 = 100 log 15/ + 0.5

2 2

𝑇 T𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡 𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 = 100x3 milliseconds

= 0.3 seconds

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Fitts’s Law
prime pixel
• The prime pixel is where a user’s cursor is located on the screen when they open a website or
application. It’s the point where the user will carry out all of their tasks from.
• This is why right-click menus exist—they’re naturally closest to the prime pixel.

• On mobile devices, the prime pixel is the area where your thumbs naturally float. They are also known
as the thumb zones.

You’ll notice that menus on your iPhone are usually at the bottom of the screen where your thumbs are.
• Ideally, designers would make all of their desired calls to action as close as possible to that point. However, the
prime pixel isn’t totally predictable because the user’s starting point is usually different every time.
• While it’s nearly impossible to predict the exact prime pixel, it is possible to predict the likely prime pixel
based on the actions taken by the user while using your application.
Here are three examples of that:
• Google’s search bar is always located in the middle of the screen, with the search button directly next to it
• Logins are usually located in the upper right-hand corner of a website’s navigation
• Forms are typically in the direct middle of the page with a large “submit” button at the end of the form
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Fitts’s Law
magic pixels
• Magic pixels are the four corners of a screen, the top edge, and the bottom edge of
a screen.
• The magic pixels create boundaries. Your cursor cannot move beyond these
points. They are almost always the furthest away from the prime pixel.
• Designers use conventions like the center of the screen, the corners, and the thumb zones on mobile
as guides for optimal placement because they can’t predict the prime pixel.
• Because they are so far from the prime pixel, magic pixels are typically reserved for standard
functions. You’ll notice that exit, minimize, account controls, log-in, and full-screen buttons are in
the top corners of your screen.
• Even though they aren’t usually close to the prime pixel, the corners and edges of the screen are
always in the same place, and you can’t move past them. That makes them easy to reach quickly.
• Web designers won’t be able to take advantage of the corners of the screen as efficiently as a native
user interface can.
• Thus, they rely on the next-best zone of magic: the center of the screen.
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