Our interaction with computing technologies has rapidly changed over the last decade. This change was driven by technology becoming smaller and less expensive. Technologies are now imbedded within our everyday environments (e.g., smart phones). This technological shift to a ubiquitous computing environment requires multidisciplinary investigations (Psychology, Engineering, Computer Science, Design, etc.) into the complex interactions between humans and computers. In addition, this shift needs insight into human centered design with the goal of transforming current interactive devices into systems that naturally interface with the users. The successful implementation of a ubiquitous computing environment necessitates greater communication between the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Cognitive communities. Cognitive theories allow designers to predict the strengths and weakness of the users' mental abilities. This knowledge is necessary for the future development of devices that optimize successful system interactions.

Cognitive Design

In an effort to facilitate communication between the HCI and cognitive communities I have formed the Psychology of Design (PoD) laboratory, which primarily conducts research in Cognitive Design. My hope is that at this intersection of interaction design and cognitive psychology we will be able to discover why some products make our lives better, while others make our lives more difficult. Specifically, We aim to translate findings from the cognitive attention literature related to (1) information processing, (2) stimulus driven selection, and (3) executive selection into the HCI design literature. These topics provide human-centered insight into how a user will perceive, process, and respond to design elements.

We are currently investigating three lines of research within Cognitive Design: affordance versus convention based interactions, implicit versus explicit knowledge elicitation and how to describe visual saliency in complex displays. The purpose of these research lines is to advance understanding of the processes involved in user experiences, especially those associated with implicit, or automatic, processes.

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