[comp.cog-eng] interfaces and memory

raymond@utpsych.toronto.edu (Raymond Shaw) (06/08/89)

In article <3059@crete.cs.glasgow.ac.uk> gilbert@cs.glasgow.ac.uk (Gilbert Cockton) writes:
>Not having to remember is a feature of a good user interface.

That depends on what you mean by "not having to remember."  Not having to
remember what?  How to use the interface?  Which menus to pull down?  The
more you can remember about it the faster you'll go.  (IMH,but informed,O)
  The memory may not be explicit, it may be implicit or
procedural.  This is a currently important distinction in psychology, and it
is vitally important to specify what you mean by remember, which is often, to
a large extent, a function of how you test it.

Ray Shaw
raymond@psych.toronto.edu