Exploring cognitive modelling in engineering usability design

Abstract

Engineering practice moves towards user-centred product design. Without effective computer-aided design tools, relying only on subjective guidelines in design and user testing in prototyping has made usability design expensive and time-consuming. This paper explores how modern cognitive modelling (CogM) can systematically address the challenges facing engineering usability design. A CogM-aided design paradigm is investigated for the different requirements of conceptual and detailed design stages, its procedural framework, and its special training and design modes. As the proof of concept, cognitive models are used in conjunction with empirical experiments to evaluate a set of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) designs. A group of human subjects test different settings of three design variables for several information-retrieval tasks with these GUIs. Then cognitive models, using the adaptive control of thought–rational/perceptual–motor cognitive architecture and built with distinct visual search strategies commonly employed by users, simulate the same operations. It is shown that CogM has the potential to assist practical decision-making in engineering design. And cognitive models can pinpoint possible cognitive challenges when human users deal with product interfaces in order to seek better usability. This study is the first step towards integrating computational CogM tools for practical usability design.

Keywords:

• human factors
• cognitive modelling
• user evaluation
• computer-aided design