The primary goal of this special issue is to provide an overview of select topics in cognitive science and their applications to the design of interactive systems. Authors were requested to show how research in cognitive science can be applied to different areas of human–computer interaction (HCI). The issue contains six articles. The first article, “How Cognitive Linguistics Inspires HCI: Image Schemas and Image-Schematic Metaphors,” by Jörn Hurtienne, provides an introduction to the field of cognitive linguistics and demonstrates how metaphors and image schemas can be used to convey properties (size, urgency, etc.) of elements within an interface. He illustrates that image selections that are compatible with cognitive linguistic interpretations should facilitate users’ performance in computing tasks. Kang, Tsang, Chan, and Liu, in their article “Hand and Foot-Controlled Dual-Tracking Task Performance Together with a Discrete Spatial Stimulus-Response Compatibility Task,” focus on stimulus-response compatibility effects for operation of hand and foot controls in a dual-task context. Their findings include that mixed-modality stimulus presentation adversely affects performance due to response conflict and having to switch between visual and auditory modalities.
In the third article, “Theory-Based Models of Attention in Visual Workspaces,” Steelman, McCarley, and Wickens evaluate a cognitive model of visual attention that includes four components: stimulus salience, effort, expectancy, and information value. They show that the model predicts performance in supervisory monitoring environments well and conclude that it can be used by HCI practitioners to design effective workspaces. Domínguez, Goodwin, Roberts, and St. Amant, in their article, “Human Subtlety Proofs: Using Computer Games to Model Cognitive Processes for Cybersecurity,” summarize different areas of cybersecurity in which cognitive modeling is beneficial, and they take advantage of differences in human and computer perceptual abilities to allow human decision makers to determine whether cyber activity is likely to have been performed by a human or a robot.
The final two articles are in the area of training using computer-simulated environments. Miles and Strybel’s article, “Measuring Situation Awareness of Student Air Traffic Controllers with Online Probe Queries: Are We Asking the Right Questions?” uses data from four years of a simulation course to determine which categories of probe questions capture the situation awareness of students learning a complex task of air traffic control. By means of statistical modeling, the authors were able to determine potential categories of questions that are likely to be predictive of the controller’s level of awareness. We end the issue with an article by Bhalerao, Dunston, and Proctor examining instructional methods for an early module—Controls Identification—in a simulator-based training program for operation of a hydraulic excavator. The results show that a period of audiovisual instruction for operation of the control functions results in better learning of those functions than a period of hands-on operation with a general instruction to learn.
The topics covered in this special issue only scratch the surface of research in cognitive science that has direct implications for HCI. These articles illustrate how principles and models in cognitive science can be applied to design, but it also is important to note that many applied research studies inform theories of fundamental cognitive processes as well. The researchers who contributed to this special issue have backgrounds in both basic cognitive science and applied HCI/human factors, and we think that the work presented in the issue provides a convincing demonstration of the value of integrating basic and applied research.