2. What is a mental
model?
• A sense of how something works
• the ability to predict an output for an
untested input
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3. Who uses mental
models?
• Everyone uses mental models.
• Studies strongly suggest that people
instinctively create mental models in order
to explain the world around them.
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4. Why use mental
models?
• Mental models simplify the task of
remembering input-output pairs.
• for example, instead of memorizing every
multiplication table, you can simply make
a mental model for multiplication, and use
that logic to solve any multiplication table
on the fly
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5. Analogies
• Mental models are often incomplete.
• Mental models are often based on weak
analogies between the new and familiar.
• According to Schema Theory, people try
to understand the new and unfamiliar in
terms of the old and familiar. Hence, they
form tenuous analogies.
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6. Learning
• As people familiarize themselves with a
new concept/technology/idea they begin to
understand it without the crutch of an
analogy.
• According to Agency Theory, this occurs
because with each interaction they hone
their mental model to more precisely and
accurately describe their experiences.
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7. Subconscious reasoning
• People are often not aware that they create
mental models until they are asked to
observe them.
• Mental models are a form of subconscious
reasoning.
• Subconscious reasoning is known as
intuition.
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8. intuition |ˌint(y)o͞oˈiSHəәn|
noun
the ability to understand something immediately, without the
need for conscious reasoning: we shall allow our intuition to guide us.
• a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive
feeling rather than conscious reasoning: your insights and intuitions
as a native speaker are positively sought.
DERIVATIVES
intuitional |-ˈiSHəәnl|adjective,
intuitionally |-ˈiSHəәnl-ē|adverb
ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting spiritual insight or
immediate spiritual communication): from late Latin
intuitio(n-), from Latin intueri ‘consider’ (see intuit) .
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9. Intuition = Power
• Intuition is the closest thing most of us
have to clairvoyance.
• Intuition, and more broadly, all types of
reasoning give humans the unique ability to
predict the future.
• This ability is also known as foresight.
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10. Intuitive interfaces
• An interface is considered intuitive when a
user’s incomplete mental model is capable
of predicting the behaviors of said interface.
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11. Making intuitive
interfaces:
• Piggyback off of existing visual vocabulary
• use conventional symbols to convey
functionality
• use skeuomorphs where appropriate
• Use a just one single consistent metaphor
throughout the entirety of your interface.
• ie: layers in photoshop or AE
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