HCI Fundamentals
Master 50+ essential HCI concepts with interactive flashcards
What You'll Learn
Master Human-Computer Interaction concepts with free interactive flashcards. Learn about the Gulf of Execution, Gulf of Evaluation, feedback cycles, direct manipulation, and interface design principles. Perfect for UX designers and HCI students.
Key Topics
- Feedback cycles and user interaction models
- Gulf of Execution and Evaluation frameworks
- Interface design principles (discoverability, consistency, feedforward)
- Direct manipulation and feedback types
- Research ethics and informed consent
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How to study this deck
Start with a quick skim of the questions, then launch study mode to flip cards until you can answer each prompt without hesitation. Revisit tricky cards using shuffle or reverse order, and schedule a follow-up review within 48 hours to reinforce retention.
Preview: HCI Fundamentals
Question
What is the Participant View?
Answer
Looking at the entire context surrounding a user's activity, including the environment, circumstances, and conditions in which an interface is used.
Question
What is Context in HCI?
Answer
The surrounding circumstances, environment, and conditions in which an interface is used (e.g., walking, driving, sitting at a desk).
Question
What are Contextual Constraints?
Answer
Challenges or limitations imposed by different contexts, such as divided cognitive resources while multitasking or reduced physical precision while moving.
Question
What is a Feedback Cycle?
Answer
The way people interact with the world and then get feedback on the results of those interactions.
Question
What is the Gulf of Execution?
Answer
The distance between a user's goals and the execution of actions required to realize those goals. It represents how hard it is to do what's necessary to accomplish the user's goals.
Question
What is the Gulf of Evaluation?
Answer
The distance between the effects of actions and the user's understanding of those results. It represents the difficulty in evaluating whether goals were accomplished.
Question
What are the three stages of the Gulf of Execution?
Answer
1. Intention Formation - identifying goals in the system's context 2. Action Specification - identifying necessary actions 3. Action Execution - actually executing the actions
Question
What are the three stages of the Gulf of Evaluation?
Answer
1. Perceiving - observing the physical output from the interface 2. Interpreting - understanding the meaning of that output 3. Evaluating - determining if goals were accomplished
Question
What is Intention Formation?
Answer
The first stage of the Gulf of Execution where users identify what their goal means in the context of the current system.
Question
What is Action Specification?
Answer
The second stage of the Gulf of Execution where users identify the specific actions necessary to accomplish their goals.
Question
What is Action Execution?
Answer
The third stage of the Gulf of Execution where users actually perform the identified actions within the interface.
Question
What does Perceiving mean in the Gulf of Evaluation?
Answer
Observing the actual physical form of output from the interface - visual, auditory, haptic, or other feedback.
Question
What does Interpreting mean in the Gulf of Evaluation?
Answer
Understanding the real meaning of the output received from the interface (e.g., understanding what a vibration or visual change signifies).
Question
What does Evaluating mean in the Gulf of Evaluation?
Answer
Determining whether the interpreted output means that the user's goals were actually accomplished.
Question
What is Discoverability?
Answer
A design principle where functions of an interface are findable and clearly labeled so users can discover what they can do without reading documentation.
Question
What does 'Safety to Explore' mean in interface design?
Answer
Designing interfaces so users feel safe poking around and discovering features, with no irreversible actions that could ruin their work.
Question
What is Consistency in interface design?
Answer
Being consistent with other tools and user expectations (e.g., using Ctrl+C for copy, disk icon for save) to help users figure out what to do.
Question
What is Feedforward?
Answer
Information that helps users predict what the result of an action will be before completing it (e.g., showing a refresh icon while pulling down to indicate what will happen).
Question
What does 'Know Your User' mean for bridging the Gulf of Execution?
Answer
Designing differently for novices (who need discoverable commands and menus) vs. experts (who value efficiency like command lines).
Question
What is Constant Feedback?
Answer
Giving feedback at every step of a process, not just when processing is complete. This helps users understand where the system is in executing their action.
Question
What is Immediate Feedback?
Answer
Responding right away to user input, even before full processing is complete (e.g., icons graying out when tapped, even if the app takes time to open).
Question
What is Matched Feedback?
Answer
A principle where subtle actions receive subtle feedback and significant actions receive significant feedback, avoiding overwhelming or under-informing users.
Question
What is Varied Feedback?
Answer
Using different types of feedback (visual, auditory, haptic) appropriately rather than relying solely on visual feedback, which can interfere with the interaction.
Question
What is Direct Manipulation?
Answer
Letting users feel like they're directly manipulating objects in the system (e.g., dragging, resizing, pulling) rather than issuing commands through menus or buttons.
Question
What are Psychological Variables?
Answer
Goals and intentions expressed in terms relevant to the user - how people naturally think about their tasks.
Question
What are Physical Variables?
Answer
System mechanisms and states expressed in terms relevant to the system - the technical implementation level.
Question
What is Semantic Distance?
Answer
The gap between user intentions and the language/concepts used by the system. The greater the distance, the more translation work required by the user.
Question
What is Articulatory Distance?
Answer
The difficulty in going from the form or appearance of input/output to its meaning. The easier this translation, the smaller the distance.
Question
What is Context-Aware Design?
Answer
Designing interfaces that can detect and adapt to the user's current context to overcome contextual constraints.
Question
What is Informed Consent in research?
Answer
Participants' voluntary agreement to participate in research with full knowledge of what the study involves, potential risks, and their rights.
Question
What are Recruitment Procedures?
Answer
The methods used for finding and enrolling study participants, including recruitment messages and consent processes.
Question
What is Selection Bias?
Answer
Systematic differences between recruited participants and the target population that can skew research results.
Question
What was controversial about the Facebook Emotional Contagion Study?
Answer
It manipulated users' emotional states by altering their news feeds without explicit informed consent, raising ethical concerns about research with unknowing participants.
Question
What are Ethical Requirements in HCI research?
Answer
Standards including IRB approval, informed consent, minimizing harm, respecting privacy, and being transparent about research procedures.
Question
What is Interface Redesign?
Answer
Modifying existing interface designs to overcome constraints, bridge gulfs, or improve usability based on analysis of current weaknesses.
Question
What is a Comparative Analysis in HCI?
Answer
Examining similar interfaces to identify relative strengths and weaknesses, then applying lessons from better designs to weaker ones.
Question
What is System State?
Answer
The current condition or configuration of the interface/system at any given moment.
Question
Who is Don Norman and what is his contribution to HCI?
Answer
Author of 'The Design of Everyday Things' who developed the cognitive engineering framework including the gulfs of execution and evaluation.
Question
What is the relationship between user goals and system state?
Answer
User goals are expressed in psychological terms while system state is expressed in physical terms - the gulfs of execution and evaluation bridge this gap.
Question
How does a wide Gulf of Execution affect users?
Answer
It makes it difficult for users to figure out what actions to take to accomplish their goals, often requiring extensive documentation or training.
Question
How does a wide Gulf of Evaluation affect users?
Answer
It makes it difficult for users to understand whether their actions were successful or what the system is doing in response to their input.
Question
What is the 'Turing tar-pit' referenced in HCI?
Answer
A situation where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy - when the interface is at such a low level that users must do extensive translation work.
Question
Why is consistency important for bridging the Gulf of Execution?
Answer
It allows users to leverage existing knowledge from other tools, making it easier to translate intentions into actions in the new interface.
Question
What is the purpose of a buffering icon in video interfaces?
Answer
It helps bridge the Gulf of Evaluation by providing output that users can interpret to mean the system is working, preventing misinterpretation of a blank screen as system failure.
Question
How do experts and novices differ in their Gulf of Execution needs?
Answer
Novices need help identifying intentions and actions (requiring discoverable menus), while experts need efficiency in executing known actions (preferring command lines).
Question
What are the two directions for bridging the gulfs?
Answer
1. Designer bridges from system side by building better input/output interfaces 2. User bridges from psychology side by creating plans and interpretations
Question
What is the relationship between feedback and feedforward?
Answer
Feedback responds to what the user did; feedforward provides information about what will happen if the user continues their current action.
Question
Why should small actions have small feedback?
Answer
To avoid overwhelming users with excessive or intrusive feedback for minor interactions, maintaining appropriate signal-to-noise ratio.
Question
What makes feedback 'immediate' versus 'constant'?
Answer
Immediate feedback responds right away when input is received; constant feedback provides updates throughout the entire process of executing an action.
Question
What does 'Bridge of Execution' and 'Bridge of Evaluation' mean?
Answer
Don Norman's alternative terminology emphasizing the user actions that bridge the gap between goals and the world: planning/specifying/performing for execution, and perceiving/interpreting/comparing for evaluation.