HCI Lecture 2:
Human capabilities: Input/Output systems
Barbara Webb
Key points:
Human have processing constraints
Motor limitations, e.g. Fitts’ law for pointing
Visual range for motion, shape, colour, detail and
their consequences for design decisions
Visual attention models
Alternative sensory channels
1
Human constraints
Human computer interaction depends on what humans are
actually capable of observing and articulating
Task
Articulation Performance
Input
Human Computer
Observation Output Presentation
Interface
Environment
2
Human constraints
What do we know about human capabilities that could or
should constrain interface design?
Limits on perceptual capability – e.g. contrast, resolution
Limits on motor capability – e.g. reach, speed, precision
Limits on attention capacity
Limits on memory
Rates of learning and forgetting
Causes of error
Mental models & biases
Individual differences (the average size fits few people)
Variable state (e.g. stress, fatigue)
Special needs & age …
3
Human constraints
The MHP
Model Human Processor
(MHP)
One way to subdivide
the main constraints
Perceptual, Motor and
Cognitive sub-systems
characterised by:
– Storage capacity U
– Decay time D
– Processor cycle time T
We will focus today on
the perceptual and
motor processes
4
Motor constraints
Example: Fitts’ law
T=a+b log2(D/W+1)
T=time, D=distance, W= target width
a, b are constants that depend on the pointing device, the user, the
environment etc.
Justification?
By “analogy” to Shannon information
capacity = bandwidthlog2((signal+noise)/noise
If move fraction 1-r to target each timestep, then reach
target when rnD = W/2; so n is proportional to log22D/W
Empirically find good fit with log2(D/W + 0.5)
5
Motor constraints
Example: Fitts’ law
T=a+b log2(D/W+1)
T=time, D=distance, W= target width
a, b are constants that depend on the pointing device, the user, the
environment etc.
Application?
Time will increase with distance – can we keep everything close?
Time will decrease with width – can we make width infinite?
See quiz regarding HCI applications of Fitts’ law here:
http://www.asktog.com/columns/022DesignedToGiveFitts.html
6
Perception
What can we see?
detail
colour
shape
motion
7
Perception
Some consequences of what we can see:
Motion – will be visible (and distracting) anywhere in visual field
Colour – main advantage is “pop-out”:
But many disadvantages:
Shape important in text recognition: SO ALL CAPS BAD
Limits on resolution – recommend minimum font size; ideally individual can adjust
High resolution only in tiny area of fixation
8
Eye tracking
Fixation pattern is a good indicator of attention
Where do people look, how often, for how long, in what order?
Recent technology is making this a standard tool for HCI
Babcock &
Pelz 2004
Also used as input device.
9
Perception
Importance of eye movements
Must shift the tiny high
resolution area around
constantly
Movements called saccades
occur > 2 per second all day
long
How does visual system decide
where to move next?
Models of attention
e.g. Itti et.al. 1998
10
Attention
Simple statistical model of saliency
Rosenholtz et al (2005)
Provides definition of ‘clutter’: size of
local covariance ellipsoid
To measure:
Compute local feature covariance at
multiple scales
Take maximum across scales
Average for different features
Pool over space
Produces good correlation with human
estimates of clutter
Can also use to determine what
feature added where would best draw
attention
11
Attention
So what went wrong here?
Task: find current population of U.S.
86% of users failed…
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html
12
Perceptual constraints
Bottom up visual processing sets some constraints on optimal
layouts, but must also consider top down issues:
Cultural and learned factors – familiarity
Underlying domain knowledge of user
Need to reflect logical structure, e.g., placement and grouping
according to function, sequence, frequency of use
Dependence on task to be carried out, e.g. getting an overview
vs. seeking specific information
Note that layout and visualisation are already widely explored
fields, with conclusions that carry over to HCI
13
Alternative sensory channels
Different sensors provide parallel channel capacity
Sound:
Not so easy to localise but can detect from any direction
Grabs attention – warning mechanisms
Good signal of causal relation – use as confirmatory feedback
Monitoring state, ‘background information’
Disk, printer noise etc.
Example of user improvisation in use of ‘data’
Interface sound design is typically arbitrary and synthetic
Touch and haptics:
Exploit our natural ability to ‘handle’ objects
14
References
Fitts law: for a detailed account see MacKenzie, I.S. (1992) Fitt’s law as a
reseach and design tool in human-computer interaction. Human
Computer Interaction, 7, 91-139.
Itti model of visual attention: see ilab.usc.edu/bu for details of the model,
images, movies, an interactive demo and source code.
Jay, C et al. (2007) How people use presentation to search for a link:
Expanding the understanding of accessibility on the web
www.cs.man.ac.uk/~jayc/papers/web_presentation_new.pdf
Rosenholtz, R. et al. (2005) Feature congestion: a measure of display
clutter. SIGCHI 2005, 761-770
See also:
Dix et. al. sections 1.2, 3.2, 3.4, 12.5
15
