Hard lessons: effort-inducing interfaces benefit spatial learning

Interface designers normally strive for a design that minimises the user's effort. However, when the design's objective is to train users to interact with interfaces that are highly dependent on spatial properties (e.g. keypad layout or gesture shapes) we contend that designers should consider explicitly increasing the mental effort of interaction. To test the hypothesis that effort aids spatial memory, we designed a "frost-brushing" interface that forces the user to mentally retrieve spatial information, or to physically brush away the frost to obtain visual guidance. We report results from two experiments using virtual keypad interfaces ? the first concerns spatial location learning of buttons on the keypad, and the second concerns both location and trajectory learning of gesture shape. The results support our hypothesis, showing that the frost-brushing design improved spatial learning. The participants' subjective responses emphasised the connections betwee...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Andy Cockburn, Per Ola Kristensson, Jason Alexander, Shumin Zhai
• Keywords: Aids Spatial Memory, CHI 2007, Human Computer Interaction, Spatial Learning, Spatial Location Learning