CUA CUA Cognitive Psychology & Mental Models 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What psychological concept describes a user's internal representation of how a system works based on prior experience?
- Affordance
- Mental model (Correct answer)
- Cognitive load
- Chunking
Correct answer: Mental model
A mental model is the user's internal representation of how a system works, shaped by prior knowledge and experience.
Question 2: Miller's Law ('7 plus or minus 2') refers to which cognitive concept relevant to UX design?
- The ideal number of navigation items
- Working memory capacity (Correct answer)
- Optimal page scroll depth
- Maximum form field count
Correct answer: Working memory capacity
Miller's Law states that humans can hold approximately 7 (±2) items in working memory at one time, guiding how much to present at once.
Question 3: Which term describes the total mental effort required to process information and complete a task in an interface?
- Attentional span
- Cognitive load (Correct answer)
- Perceptual affordance
- Response latency
Correct answer: Cognitive load
Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort used in working memory, and reducing it is a core goal of usable interface design.
Question 4: When a user makes errors because they expect a new system to behave like a familiar one, this is known as:
- Confirmation bias
- Negative transfer (Correct answer)
- Cognitive slippage
- Anchoring effect
Correct answer: Negative transfer
Negative transfer occurs when prior learning about one system interferes with learning a new system that works differently.
Question 5: Which Gestalt principle explains why users perceive interface elements placed close together as belonging to the same group?
- Similarity
- Continuity
- Proximity (Correct answer)
- Closure
Correct answer: Proximity
The Gestalt principle of proximity states that objects positioned near each other are perceived as related or grouped together.
Question 6: In UX design, 'chunking' is applied to interface content primarily to:
- Break content into manageable groups to reduce cognitive load (Correct answer)
- Increase visual complexity to demonstrate depth
- Measure task completion times more accurately
- Hide secondary features from novice users
Correct answer: Break content into manageable groups to reduce cognitive load
Chunking organizes information into meaningful groups so users can process content within working memory limits more effectively.
CUA CUA Cognitive Psychology & Mental Models 1
What psychological concept describes a user's internal representation of how a system works based on prior experience?