Visual guidance for information navigation: a computer-human interface design principle derived from cognitive neuroscience

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience describes the important function of the ‘where’ cortical processing system in directing attention to locations in space at which the ‘what’ cortical processing system identifies information. Spatial information detected by the ‘where’ system therefore indexes content information. Studies have shown that such spatial indexing can occur in recall as well as of computer interfaces would more closely couple computer applications to in the direction of perception within a stimulus array. Application of spatial indexing, as understood in cognitive neuroscience, to the design human information processing capabilities. A principle of computer-human interface design is offered which takes spatial indexing into account at both the screen and application levels. The principle states that designers should communicate via a spatial code the range of possible behaviours available from each location within the application. In other words, the designer must define an information space and present it to users from each location-relative point of view as they navigate through the space rather than from an absolute, location-independent point of view as if they are looking down from above. The goal of this paper is to get computer-human interface designers to recognize that people are actually highly skilled navigators within three-dimensional space and that interfaces would improve if designers would take such skills into account.