Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. It came to be important in technical communication theory in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and contributed to the development of such fields as usability, user-centered design, experience design and interaction design.
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Psychologically Unsound 15 Second Sitcoms
"It made me laugh, I love it," is not what you want to hear about an expensive TV commercial. Did it leave you with a powerful desire to obtain the benefit the product offers, so that you plan on purchasing it? Find out why silly TV commercials, that fail to communicate why the product is superior, are doomed to drain budgets and let the competition gain ground.
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Multimedia>Marketing>Cognitive Psychology
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A Psychologist Astray in Computer Science
While more universities continue to develop HCI degrees and concentrations, things have not progressed this far in most computer science departments. Most computer science students still experience HCI as a single course that is frequently designed for juniors or seniors. Marilyn provides insight gained through ten years of teaching such a course to undergraduate computer science students at the University of Toronto. She began by accepting the reality of a single course, the diverse backgrounds of her students, and fact that many of these students may eventually be designing interfaces.
Mantei-Tremaine, Marilyn. SIGCHI Bulletin (1998). Articles>Education>Usability>Cognitive Psychology
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The Psychology of Menu Selection: Designing Cognitive Control at the Human/Computer Interface
Menu selection is emerging as an important mode of human/computer interaction. This book, the first entirely devoted to this important form of human/computer interaction, provides detailed theoretical and empirical information of interest to software designers and human/computer interaction specialists and researchers. A new theoretical approach to menu selection is taken by developing a psychological theory of cognitive control by the user. A comprehensive review of empirical research on menu selection is presented in an organized fashion to aid in the design and evaluation of systems. Finally, information is given on how to protype and evaluate menu selection systems using both performance data and user ratings.
Norman, Kent L. University of Maryland (1991). Books>Information Design>Usability>Cognitive Psychology
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Explores the psychology behind how users make navigational choices as they navigate through 'information spaces' and how information architects can use this information when crafting the navigational experience.
Garrett, Jesse James. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Cognitive Psychology
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Reducing Reliance on Superstition
Probably the most well-known article in the fields of usability, user interface design and user experience is Miller’s 1956 paper entitled 'The magical number seven, plus or minus two.' It is incredible how this article has lasted for over 40 years, and still seems to influence many design decisions. More recent, better research is available, but not being used.
Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2000). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Research>Cognitive Psychology
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Satisficing describes the situation where people settle with a solution to a problem that is 'good enough.'
Soegaard, Mads. Interaction-Design.org. Articles>Usability>User Experience>Cognitive Psychology
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Settings and the Institutional Organization of Language 
Discursive activity in any setting (classrooms, coffee bars, laboratories, greenhouses, or the virtual settings of the Internet), occurs within a semiotic system, and it is useful to think of settings in this way. And, because I've be recently integrating an Activity Theory perspective into my teaching of qualitative research en methods, I wanted to describe the socially-situated organization of talk-in- context in Minneapolis's neighborhood coffee houses. I'm very pleased that Beth Sokolowski's drawings capture the typified activities indigenous to the settings and demonstrate what an important role the setting plays.
Berkenkotter, Carol. University of Minnesota (1998). Articles>Language>Assessment>Cognitive Psychology
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Using Perception in Managing Unstructured Documents
Over the last ten years, the increased availability of documents in digital form has contributed significantly to the immense volume of knowledge and information available to computer users. The World Wide Web has become the largest digital library available, with more than one billion unique indexable web pages. Yet, due to their dynamic nature, fast growth rate, and unstructured format, it is increasingly difficult to identify and retrieve valuable information from these documents. More importantly, the usefulness of an unstructured document is dependent upon the ease and efficiency with which the information is retrieved. In this paper, we define an unstructured document as a "general" document that is without a specific format e.g., plain text. Whereas, a document divided into sections or paragraph tags is referred to as semi-structured e.g., a formatted text document or a web page.
Cheng, Ching Kang and Xiaoshan Pan. ACM Crossroads (2004). Articles>Document Design>Online>Cognitive Psychology
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Visual Perception and Its Impact on Technical Communication
Past studies of visual perception have produced a wide library of information on what forms of information can be most easily absorbed by the user. In this paper, we consolidate the literature to provide guidelines on the most effective steps in text engineering, with applications in both printed documentation and website design.
Kaltenbach, Susan. EServer (2001). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Visual>Cognitive Psychology
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Whereas 7 (plus or minus 2) is the mantra for structured writing and other methods for organizing information, 5 (plus or minus 2) is the mantra for the number of participants needed in a usability test. Recent articles have looked at what Miller, who introduced the research on short-term memory, really meant regarding the 7 + or – 2 number (Doumont 2002; Kolbach 2002), and a similar re-examination is now a much-discussed topic regarding the viability of applying the number 5 to web usability testing. Two widely-publicized usability studies of Web users, one directed by Rolf Molich and the other by Jared Spool, are fueling the discussion. At the most recent meetings of CHI and UPA, panels addressed this specific topic, and the first question directed to Jakob Nielsen at the CHI session entitled 'Ask Jakob' was, How many users does it take? Knowing something about the research studies and the issues raised gives you the ammunition to decide where you stand. So, here’s a brief overview of what the controversy is based on, and, if you want to learn more, you can read the whole story in the original sources.
Barnum, Carol M. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>Usability>Theory>Cognitive Psychology
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What's Your Idea of a Mental Model?
We need a way to document and express mental models that is as simple and robust as personas for user profiles and scenarios for tasks. By laying out users' current mental models and a target mental model, we can clarify our thinking and communication about the user interface's objects, metaphors, and interaction.
McDaniel, Scott M. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Information Design>User Centered Design>Cognitive Psychology
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Working Memory in an Editing Task 
A number of studies have found that writers produce text in bursts of language. That is, when creating a text, writers produce a few words, pause, produce a few more words, pause, and so on. Chenoweth and Hayes (2003) hypothesized that language bursts occur when writers translate ideas in to new language. This study tested this hypothesis against the following two alternative hypotheses: (a) Language bursts are caused by proposing new ideas rather than by translating ideas in to written language and (b) language bursts depend on the form of the input to the writing process rather than on the translation process. The study employed an editing task in which participants were required to translate a written language input. The alternative hypotheses led to contradictory predictions about writers' performance in this task. The study also explored the impact of working memory restrictions on task performance.
Hayes, John R. and N. Ann Chenoweth. Written Communication (2007). Articles>Editing>Workflow>Cognitive Psychology
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Sometimes users find it difficult to perform tasks based on the information provided. Take a minute to understand why this could happen.
Abraham, Anitha. Indus (2008). Articles>User Centered Design>Audience Analysis>Cognitive Psychology
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I’d personally love a computer experience which emphasized ‘flow’ and gradual, constant change. No longer would every little change pull your attention away from an important task. Instead, those Mail notifications, system messages and the like could gently change without you noticing, until you decided you wanted to actually look.
Lang, Keith. UI and Us (2008). Articles>User Interface>User Centered Design>Cognitive Psychology
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Persuasive Design: Tapping the Main Line
We love stories, recognise patterns in fractions of a second and have a set of highly developed social behaviours. In "Persuasive Design" Mike will be running through a collection of these hard-wired influence points and exploring how they can be used in the design of products, interfaces and experiences.
Stenhouse, Mike. SlideShare (2008). Presentations>User Interface>Persuasive Design>Cognitive Psychology
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Collective Form: An Exploration of Large-Group Writing 1998 (Outstanding Researcher Lecture)
Whether a collective mind forms in large-group writing in the workplace is the focus of this article originally given as the 1998 ABC Outstanding Researcher Lec ture. This article is based on a five-year ethnographic study that describes and analyzes a three-month group writing process that created a computer service-level agreement, involving a 20-person cross-functional core more than 100 other collab orators at a major corporation. The article discusses "collective form" in two senses: First, a document's evolving form or superstructure produced a collective schema that allowed the group through a process of equilibration (Piaget, 1981) to adapt outsider boilerplate into a more situated general model and then into a sit uated document. Second, architectural forms motivated and molded group activity in several ways. To combat group apathy, the leaders appropriated an in-demand meeting room for the project, positioning the project as high-status in the center of the workflow. Group leaders prominently displayed a task completion check-off chart that, in a downsizing environment, helped both to coordinate group activity and to encourage completion.
Cross, Geoffrey A. JBC (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Ethnographies>Cognitive Psychology
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Games To Explain Human Factors: Come, Participate, Learn and Have Fun!!!
Photo albums from previous presentations of Games To Explain Human Factors.
Shapiro, Ronald G. SlideShare (2008). Presentations>Human Computer Interaction>Information Design>Cognitive Psychology
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What's Cognitive About Rhetoric?
Our capacity for mimesis -- the capacity to represent experiences and states-of-affairs in iconic and indexical formats under strict bodily control -- molds later symbolic thought and action. Culture is not the initial product of language, language is the product of a particular manifestation of Mimetic Culture.
Van Evera Oakley, Todd. Social Science Research Network (2008). Articles>Rhetoric>Research>Cognitive Psychology
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The Limitations of Mental Models
As human beings, we create conceptual models that enable us to understand the complex world around us. Hart believes that information designers should understand mental models as a tool for creating the best possible communications.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Intercom (2009). Articles>Communication>Usability>Cognitive Psychology
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The task of writing clearly and simply has never been either clear or simple. In fact, it can be one of the most difficult of all writing tasks. Clear and simple writing is an art to which many aspire and few achieve. Even so, the understandability of web content depends upon clear and simple writing. Unclear or confusing writing is an accessibility barrier to all readers, but can be especially difficult for people with reading disorders or cognitive disabilities.
WebAIM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Cognitive Psychology
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Designing with Psychology in Mind: 5 Principles from Psychology that we Can Use to Inform Web Design
When we as web designers create screens we are defi
Porter, Joshua. Bokardo.com (2009). Presentations>Web Design>User Experience>Cognitive Psychology
#34825
Team-Building Success: It's in the Cards
Our classes have experienced higher quality outcomes when the Diversity Card Game was used to form teams than when the game was not used. Student feedback has also reinforced the value of the whole brain model through the card game.
Scarfino, Deborah and Carol Roever. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Cognitive Psychology
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Making the Strange Familiar: A Pedagogical Exploration of Visual Thinking
Scholarly conversation within the field of professional communication increasingly has focused on the practice, research, and pedagogy of visual rhetoric. Yet, visual thinking has received relatively little attention within the field. If our programs produce students who can think verbally but not visually, they risk producing writers who are visual technicians but are unable to move fluidly between and within modes of communication. This article examines the literature and pedagogical practices of visually oriented disciplines to identify strategies for helping students develop the ambidexterity of thought needed for the communication tasks of today's workplace.
Brumberger, Eva R. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Education>Visual Rhetoric>Cognitive Psychology
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Sensing of Meaning and Introvert Products
The human mind is geared to derive meaning out of what it perceives. And this attribute is so fundamental to it, that it may even be the most basic building block of human cognition. In our zest to dig out some meaning from everything, we even go to extreme lengths. There have been diviners, oracles, and witch-doctors who try to read meaning from chicken entrails, yarrow sticks, tea leaves, bird flights, etc, with the same seriousness that a doctor reads an x-ray, or a hot-air balloonist reads weather patterns. The famous metaphysical saying “there is no such thing as a coincidence” is something which rides on the underlying philosophy that says - there is always a meaning in everything - if you can find it. Understandably, this philosophy can be a highly devious tool in the hands of occultist quacks, and yet the motive behind it is a fundamental driving force of human cognition.
Sapkal, Pankaj. Journal of HCI Vistas (2007). Articles>Language>User Centered Design>Cognitive Psychology
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Use of Cognitive Tricks in Web Advertising
Web advertisers resort to many unethical approaches (in my personal opinion) under the pretext of creativity. Let us learn about it.
Katre, Dinesh S. Journal of HCI Vistas (2006). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>Cognitive Psychology
