Prof. Pertti Saariluoma	Researcher Sacha Helfenstein

InBCT 2.3.

The Cognitions of the User

Team Leader:

Prof., Dr. Pertti Saariluoma,
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Jyväskylä,
pesaaril@cc.jyu.fi, 014-2603095, 050-3732142

Researchers: Mr. Sacha Helfenstein, Mr. Pauli Salo and additional authors

Key Interest Areas and Concepts

HCI and usability, learning and transfer, cognitive engineering, mental content and representations, complexity, consumer psychology, marketing, preference, attachment and commitment

Relevance

Much is at stake when a newly developed technological system or device is placed into the user's hand. In a tiny fraction of the time invested into its development, it will be decided whether and how the user learns to operate it, and how he or she "likes it." In order to effectively address these issues we not only need a firm understanding of the individual's psychological functioning, we also must look at what the user already knows or doesn't know.

Of key interest must be how users understand and behave in interaction with practical innovations on the basis of their prior experiences. This is the focus of research in transfer of learning, and thus, one of the principal pillars of practical valuable progress within cognitive science.

Finally, while the user-problem is crucial for successful design and engineering, a full account of the transfer issue must attend to the individual as a consumer in a market. It is the distinct aim of this project to embed the user's cognition into an investigation of its socio-emotional context.

Approach

The research design addresses equally the need to strengthen the theoretical foundation of transfer and the objective of presenting new empirical results. It focuses heavily on the development of a solid understanding of the phenomenon of learning; the development of a new theoretical approach to transfer based on a foundational analysis of the theories and empirical results presented over the last century; and the investigation of transfer within virtual and naturalistic settings of real-life tasks.

The researchers see it as vital to invite co-funding and participating enterprises to communicate their expertise and application issues in order to harmonize investigative progress with practical needs.

Work in Progress

• Pertti Saariluoma: Käyttäjäpsykologia, käsikirjoitus 180 liuskaa, submitted
• One editor in Book "Future interaction design" Contract with Springer Verlag
• Long term working memory and interrupts. Behaviour information technology- in press (Antti Oulasvirta & Pertti Saariluoma)
• An article to be submitted on co-operation of memory systems in language revision to be submitted in Journal of Memory and Language (Antti Oulasvirta & Pertti Saariluoma)
• Keskeiset väestöparametrit ubiquitous computing -tuotekonseptien kehittämisessä HIIT 2/ 2002 47 siv. (Antti Oulasvirta, Sauli Tiitta & Pertti Saariluoma)
• An article on the reconstruction of cognitive transfer (Sacha Helfenstein & Pertti Saariluoma), to be submitted to a relevant psychological journal within weeks time
• A larger manuscript on the phenomenon of learning (Pertti Saariluoma & Pauli Salo), being developed to a monograph for submission in the beginning of 2003)
• Manuscripts on concept learning and complexity (Pauli Salo), to be submitted to the international philosophical journal Mind and published in Minds and Machines respectively
• Pertti Saariluoma & Pauli Salo Apperception, expectation and interaction: evidence from menu search, submitted
• Two further manuscripts in prep.
• A manuscript on reasons for failures to find meaningful transfer (Sacha Helfenstein & Pertti Saariluoma)
• An investigation into socio-emotional dimensions of transfer, involving an examination of commitments and aversions within the Linux and Windows societies (Sacha Helfenstein & Pertti Saariluoma)
• A Win/Delphi computer environment has been programmed (Pauli Salo) to study transfer in the context of menu-navigation, using a mobile phone environment. Pilots have started; results and reports are to be expected this fall.
• In addition, COMAS student Marketta Niemelä is conducting experiments on search and recall, that are relevant to this project in collaboration with Pertti Saariluoma. Published Marketta Niemelä & Pertti Saariluoma: Layout attributes and recall Behaviour & Information Technology, 2003, 22, 353-363.

InBCT 2.3

Uusien tuotesukupolvien käyttäjien kognition huomioitavat kehittämisperusteet

Käyttäjien kognitiot -projekti tutkii ihmisen ja laitteiden suhdetta. Tarkoituksena on kehittää menetelmiä ja tehdä tutkimusta, jonka avulla on mahdollista täsmällisesti rekisteröidä tapa, jolla ihmiset kohtaavat laiteympäristön ja ovat niiden kanssa vuorovaikutuksessa. Keskeisiä ovat tällöin havaitsemisen, oppimisen muistin emootioiden, mieltämisen ja ajattelun teoriat. Näitä kognitiotieteen tradition mukaisella monitieteisellä tavalla. Näin voidaan saada yrityksissä kokonaisvaltaisia analyysejä heidän tuotteidensa ja käyttämiensä laitteiden ja ihmisen vuorovaikutuksen ongelmista. Muita tyypillisiä ongelma-alueita ovat yritysten organisaatioiden ajattelukulttuuri-, luovuus, suunnittelu ja ajatteluriskit.

Lisätietoja yms.:
More Information etc.:

Helfenstein, Sacha & Saariluoma, Pertti. Reconstructing Cognitive Transfer (PDF, 401.5 KB).

Maarttola, Isto & Saariluoma, Pertti. Error risks and contradictory decision desires in urban planning (PDF, 67.1 KB). Design Studies, 2001, 23, 455-472.

Saariluoma, Pertti & Maarttola, Isto. Errors and functional reasons in architectural design (PDF, 127.5 KB).

Saariluoma, Pertti & Maarttola, Isto. Stumbling blocks in novice building design (PDF, 57.6 KB). Architectural planning research.

Salo, Pauli. Conceptual and Computational Intractability: Assessing the Relevance of Kolmogorov Complexity to Human Psychology (HTML, 248.6 KB).

Salo, Pauli. Information Processing and Algorithmic Complexity (HTML, 121.2 KB).

Niemelä, Marketta & Saariluoma, Pertti. Layout attributes and recall (PDF, 997.7 KB).

Saariluoma, Pertti. Käyttäjien kognitiot (PPT, 136 KB).

Brief project report for the year 2003 (PDF, 110.8 KB).