CUA Cognitive Psychology & Mental Models Flashcards

The concept of 'progressive disclosure' in UX design is rooted in which cognitive principle?

Answer: Reducing cognitive load by revealing only necessary information at each step

Progressive disclosure reduces cognitive overload by presenting only the information and options relevant to the user's current task step.

In Donald Norman's model of action, the 'Gulf of Evaluation' refers to:

Answer: The difficulty users have determining whether their action achieved the desired goal

The Gulf of Evaluation is how difficult it is for users to interpret system feedback and determine if their action succeeded, highlighting the need for clear feedback.

'Preattentive processing' in human visual perception describes:

Answer: The rapid, automatic detection of visual properties like color, shape, and motion before focused attention

Preattentive processing is the instantaneous, unconscious detection of certain low-level visual features that occurs before deliberate attention is applied.

Which design error most directly violates Nielsen's heuristic of 'error prevention'?

Answer: Placing a 'Delete All' button adjacent to 'Save' without a confirmation dialog

Placing destructive actions next to common ones without safeguards creates error-prone conditions that violate the error prevention heuristic.

The 'recognition over recall' principle in UX design means interfaces should:

Answer: Make all options visible so users identify rather than remember them

Recognition over recall means reducing memory demands by making choices, objects, and actions visible so users can recognize them rather than recall from memory.

Which of the following design patterns best applies the principle of reducing extraneous cognitive load?

Answer: Using inline error messages that appear immediately next to the problematic field

Inline error messages reduce extraneous cognitive load by providing immediate, contextual feedback rather than requiring users to cross-reference a separate error list.