Human Media Interaction Theory 2021-2022
Topics
User engagement
Accessibility
Perception and Attention
Attention and Cognitive Load
Memory and Learning
Media Multitasking
Emotion and Persuasion
Motivation and Addiction
Social Cognition in Immersive Media
Games and Narratives
Aesthetics
Including Exam November 2021
By: Mart Senden
1
,Human Media Interaction Theory
Usability: assess whether user interface is easy to use and meets the requirements.
UX:
Also known as user experience
understand the deeper, personal experience of the user (affect/emotion, fun,
motivations, attitudes etc.)
The optimal experience is also known as Flow:
Flow: is a state of holistic sensation that people feel when acting with complete
involvement, while feeling and performing at their best
=> aka the optimal experience of engagement to an activity
=> when it occurs, all cognitive, affective and physical/motor systems are all dedicated to the
same task
*typical flow activities are (extreme) sports, gaming, creative acts (e.g. composing, dancing)
All cognitive, affective and physical/motor systems are all dedicated to the same task
and goal.
E.g. when you are reading a book, you are really focused on the book and the narrative, not
your surroundings.
Challenge-Skill Balance: *Very important condition: in order to occur the challenge of the
activity has to match the person's skills at the right point, otherwise it generate anxiety or
boredom instead
Autotelic Experience: a task has to be intrinsically rewarding to achieve flow.
HC3 Perception and Attention
2
,“in any level of design these are important to consider”
Whenever we have a stimulus. In order to have it processed we need to pay attention. If we
do so we become consciously aware of it and perceive it. Then we are going to think about it
and finally we are going to make a decision on what to do or think about the stimulus
(response or action).
The reason why this scheme is included (do not learn!) is that it includes all stages of human
attention which should be considered for human design of media.
What is attention?
He basically said that he does not have to define attention because "everybody knows what
attention is" W.James (1890) => it is an intuitive concept
BUT more complex to understand, e.g. we can identified multiple types (see paper)
Attentional domains:
1. selective attention
2. divided attention
3. switching attention
4. Vigilant attention
Today’s lecture focuses on selective attention.
3
, The process of orienting yourself to relevant information because there is limited
capacity for process (flashlight metaphor). You focus on one specific thing and the
rest outside what is relevant remains dark.
There is limited capacity for processing which means we have to select/orienting
ourselves to relevant information only!
What attracts attention and who/what controls the figurative flashlight?
bottom-up = any stimulus that is "physically salient" is paid attention to e.g.
experiment, determine the line orientation located in the unique shape.
o situation 1: all red shapes with one circle = fast detection.
o situation 2: one of the square is green, capture attention = slower detection of
the unique shape
o Is there an order of salience: e.g. color deviations are more dominant that
shape deviations. This is not clearly studied.
top-down = attention is determined by goals and expectations / Attention is
focused prior to stimulus appearance (because it is expected)). E.g. if you
expect a stimulus to appear at a certain location, you will be able to pay attention to
that location even before a stimulus has arrived there. You go back from the thought
processes stage back to the attention state.
o e.g. experiment: screen with two squares (on the left and right), instructions of
pushing button when we see a star in one of the squares, while looking at the
center; some arrows appears cuing (almost always correct) where the star is
going to appear: increased response time and faster pushing.
relevance-history = tendency of paying attention to a stimulus that were
relevant in the past even when the stimulus itself is not salient/ relevant at the
moment.
o Situation 1: training / identify target and information, correct answer received a
reward / when in red circle => higher reward association; the red color is
associated to increased salience in the trial.
o Situation 2: test: the target has changed, but when the color red is present it
produces distractions (slower response) e.g. the cocktail parties effect / occur
when being in noisy environment, the attention is automatically attracted to
hearing your name, cancelling other noises.
Can the different forms of attention happen at the same time?
4
Topics
User engagement
Accessibility
Perception and Attention
Attention and Cognitive Load
Memory and Learning
Media Multitasking
Emotion and Persuasion
Motivation and Addiction
Social Cognition in Immersive Media
Games and Narratives
Aesthetics
Including Exam November 2021
By: Mart Senden
1
,Human Media Interaction Theory
Usability: assess whether user interface is easy to use and meets the requirements.
UX:
Also known as user experience
understand the deeper, personal experience of the user (affect/emotion, fun,
motivations, attitudes etc.)
The optimal experience is also known as Flow:
Flow: is a state of holistic sensation that people feel when acting with complete
involvement, while feeling and performing at their best
=> aka the optimal experience of engagement to an activity
=> when it occurs, all cognitive, affective and physical/motor systems are all dedicated to the
same task
*typical flow activities are (extreme) sports, gaming, creative acts (e.g. composing, dancing)
All cognitive, affective and physical/motor systems are all dedicated to the same task
and goal.
E.g. when you are reading a book, you are really focused on the book and the narrative, not
your surroundings.
Challenge-Skill Balance: *Very important condition: in order to occur the challenge of the
activity has to match the person's skills at the right point, otherwise it generate anxiety or
boredom instead
Autotelic Experience: a task has to be intrinsically rewarding to achieve flow.
HC3 Perception and Attention
2
,“in any level of design these are important to consider”
Whenever we have a stimulus. In order to have it processed we need to pay attention. If we
do so we become consciously aware of it and perceive it. Then we are going to think about it
and finally we are going to make a decision on what to do or think about the stimulus
(response or action).
The reason why this scheme is included (do not learn!) is that it includes all stages of human
attention which should be considered for human design of media.
What is attention?
He basically said that he does not have to define attention because "everybody knows what
attention is" W.James (1890) => it is an intuitive concept
BUT more complex to understand, e.g. we can identified multiple types (see paper)
Attentional domains:
1. selective attention
2. divided attention
3. switching attention
4. Vigilant attention
Today’s lecture focuses on selective attention.
3
, The process of orienting yourself to relevant information because there is limited
capacity for process (flashlight metaphor). You focus on one specific thing and the
rest outside what is relevant remains dark.
There is limited capacity for processing which means we have to select/orienting
ourselves to relevant information only!
What attracts attention and who/what controls the figurative flashlight?
bottom-up = any stimulus that is "physically salient" is paid attention to e.g.
experiment, determine the line orientation located in the unique shape.
o situation 1: all red shapes with one circle = fast detection.
o situation 2: one of the square is green, capture attention = slower detection of
the unique shape
o Is there an order of salience: e.g. color deviations are more dominant that
shape deviations. This is not clearly studied.
top-down = attention is determined by goals and expectations / Attention is
focused prior to stimulus appearance (because it is expected)). E.g. if you
expect a stimulus to appear at a certain location, you will be able to pay attention to
that location even before a stimulus has arrived there. You go back from the thought
processes stage back to the attention state.
o e.g. experiment: screen with two squares (on the left and right), instructions of
pushing button when we see a star in one of the squares, while looking at the
center; some arrows appears cuing (almost always correct) where the star is
going to appear: increased response time and faster pushing.
relevance-history = tendency of paying attention to a stimulus that were
relevant in the past even when the stimulus itself is not salient/ relevant at the
moment.
o Situation 1: training / identify target and information, correct answer received a
reward / when in red circle => higher reward association; the red color is
associated to increased salience in the trial.
o Situation 2: test: the target has changed, but when the color red is present it
produces distractions (slower response) e.g. the cocktail parties effect / occur
when being in noisy environment, the attention is automatically attracted to
hearing your name, cancelling other noises.
Can the different forms of attention happen at the same time?
4
