week 4 post 2: memory-short term, chunking, long term, and cognitive load

    When designing interfaces, short-term memory is one of the biggest concerns. it is important to avoid requiring the user to keep too much information stored into short-term memory at a time. Users can only store four to five chunks of information at a time. There are two principals to keep in mind for memorizing information. The first principle is the idea of chunking. Chunking is grouping together several bits of information into one chunk to remember. it is important that the user does not need to hold too much in short term memory at a time. This is one of the reasons why menu bars and tool strips are so prevalent in software design. The user does not have to remember the icon for a command or the name of an option, they just need to recognize it when they see it. When it comes to long term memory it is much harder to store information there than in short term, because generally information must be put into short term memory several times before it passes into long term memory.

    The goal is to make sure the user does not need to learn too much to use the interface, so cognitive load is an important aspect to learn. cognitive load has two major applications to a working design interface. first one is, reducing the cognitive load posed by the interface, so the user can focus on the task. second is understanding the context of what else is going on while the users are using the interface created. it is important to understand what else could be competing for the cognitive resourced users need to use the interface designed.