CUA Cognitive Psychology & Mental Models Flashcards

Which of the following best describes an 'affordance' in UX and interaction design?

Answer: A design element that signals how it should be used

An affordance is a perceived property of an object that signals its possible use, such as a raised button that looks clickable.

Fitts' Law predicts that the time to acquire a target with a pointing device is determined by:

Answer: The target's size and its distance from the cursor

Fitts' Law states that movement time to a target increases with distance and decreases with target size, directly influencing button and click target sizing.

The 'peak-end rule' in cognitive psychology suggests that users primarily judge an experience based on:

Answer: The most emotionally intense moment and the final moment

The peak-end rule states that people judge experiences by the emotional peak and the ending, not a running average of every moment.

Which cognitive bias leads users to seek and interpret interface information in ways that confirm their pre-existing beliefs?

Answer: Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias causes users to notice and trust information that aligns with what they already believe, which can skew how they navigate and interpret content.

'Banner blindness' is a form of which broader cognitive phenomenon?

Answer: Selective attention and attentional blindness

Banner blindness is a form of attentional blindness where users automatically ignore areas that resemble advertisements, even when those areas contain relevant content.

Hick's Law states that as the number of choices presented to a user increases, decision-making time:

Answer: Increases logarithmically

Hick's Law predicts that decision time grows logarithmically with the number of choices, supporting the UX principle of limiting options to reduce friction.