Prior schemata transfer as an account for assessing the intuitive use of new technology

Abstract

New devices are considered intuitive when they allow users to transfer prior knowledge. Drawing upon fundamental psychology experiments that distinguish prior knowledge transfer from new schema induction, a procedure was specified for assessing intuitive use. This procedure was tested with 31 participants who, prior to using an on-board computer prototype, studied its screenshots in reading vs. schema induction conditions. Distinct patterns of transfer or induction resulted for features of the prototype whose functions were familiar or unfamiliar, respectively. Though moderated by participants' cognitive style, these findings demonstrated a means for quantitatively assessing transfer of prior knowledge as the operation that underlies intuitive use. Implications for interface evaluation and design, as well as potential improvements to the procedure, are discussed.

Screening Prototype Features in Terms of Intuitive Use: Design Considerations and Proof of Concept

“…This pattern, called prior schemata transfer, occurs when features are functionally familiar from other devices or domains. and characterizes IV (Fischer et al, 2015). One can expect that features incompatible with prior schemata yield errors for the control group.…”

“…This pattern. called positive schema induction, occurs when features have innovative functions whose underlying schemata can be induced through function matching (Fischer et al, 2015).…”

The Influence of Naturally Mapped Control Interfaces for Video Games on the Player Experience and Intuitive Interaction

“…Following up on the IUUI work, a number of researchers have examined the role image schemas can play when designing interfaces to offer a greater intuitive use potential (Chattopadhyay & Bolchini, 2015;Fischer et al, 2015a;Hurtienne, 2011;Hurtienne et al, 2015;Macaranas, 2013). Hurtienne (2011) conducted a range of studies and found that interfaces generally offered improved performance and usability outcomes when redesigned to conform with image schema theory.…”

“…Further research aimed to more tightly integrate image schema theory into a user-centred design process in a way that was judged to be more intuitive, innovative and inclusive by both users and designers alike (Hurtienne et al, 2015). Fischer et al (2015a) propose a new, more automated, means to evaluate knowledge transfer of relevant image schemas to guide the redesign of proposed interface prototypes. In their work, existing methods for measuring intuitive interaction are criticised as being time-intensive for designers/researchers and users alike as well as focusing too much on the symptoms of intuitive use rather than quantitatively evaluating the transfer of previous knowledge in the form of image schemas (Fischer et al, 2015a(Fischer et al, , 2015b Other work in the intuitive interaction field highlights the need for further research on the affective response that is coupled with intuitive interaction (Diefenbach & Ullrich, 2015;Still et al, 2015).…”

“…This work has mainly focused on three major themes: the relationship between aging, familiarity and intuitive use (primarily drawing on Blackler and colleagues' work) (Blackler, Popovic, Mahar, Reddy, & Lawry, 2012;Mihajlov et al, 2015;O'Brien, 2010;Reddy, 2012); the use of image schemas in the design process to encourage intuitive use (following up on the IUUI work) (Chattopadhyay & Bolchini, 2015;Fischer, Itoh, & Inagaki, 2015a;Hurtienne, Klöckner, Diefenbach, Nass, & Maier, 2015); and the relationship between 'natural user interfaces' (NUIs) (such as touch, TEIs) and intuitive interaction (discussed in section 2.2.3) (Antle et al, 2009;Chattopadhyay & Bolchini, 2015;Macaranas, 2013;Mihajlov et al, 2015).…”