A mental model can help with learning to operate a complex device
CHI '93 INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Future design mindful of the MoRAS
Human-Computer Interaction
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Have you ever had difficulty adjusting your refrigerator temperature, setting your VCR program, or transferring a call to another extension? The source of these difficulties is often a failed mapping between the designers' and the users' models of a system (Norman, 1988); in brief, user's have flawed mental models (or devices have flawed designs). This study examined how providing explicit models to users or allowing them to explore the system's functioning could serve as a bridge between designer and user device images. Using a simple device, the temperature controls in a refrigerator, we compared performance on temperature adjustment using an explicit model, an implicit model, and a no model condition. Exploration was introduced as an alternative to explicit presentation of a model; subjects could try out the simulated device before beginning a specific task. Although this type of exploration has gained increased popularity as a training strategy, there appear to be substantial individual differences in the utility of that approach. Some people enjoy the assimilation of information and focus on the question rather than on any specific resolution ("perceivers"), and these people are likely to enjoy exploration. Other people, in contrast, are focussed on answers and prefer closure ("judgers"); an exploratory environment is likely to be less useful for that group. We analyzed whether these general differences in cognitive style would influence the utility of exploration as a learning tool in our task.