A Predictive Model of Human Error based on User Interface Development Models and a Cognitive Architecture

The concept of devicevs. task-orientation allows to identify subtasks that are especially prone to errors. Device-oriented tasks occur whenever a user interface requires additional steps that do not directly contribute to the users’ goals. They comprise, but are not limited to, initialization errors and postcompletion errors (e.g., removing a bank card after having received money). The vulnerability of device-oriented tasks is often counteracted by making them obligatory (e.g., by not handing out the money before the bank card has been removed), making it even harder to predict where users will have problems with a given interface without dedicated user tests. In this paper we show how cognitive modeling can be used to predict error rates of device-oriented and task-oriented subtasks with respect to a given application logic. The process is facilitated by exploiting user interface meta information from model-based user interface development.

[1]  Denis Mareschal,et al.  Action selection in complex routinized sequential behaviors. , 2010, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[2]  Ann Blandford,et al.  Different Cognitive Mechanisms Account for Different Types of Procedural Steps , 2009 .

[3]  Raj M. Ratwani,et al.  A memory for goals model of sequence errors , 2011, Cognitive Systems Research.

[4]  Fabio Paternò,et al.  Design and development of multidevice user interfaces through multiple logical descriptions , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[5]  Sebastian Möller,et al.  Predicting task execution times by deriving enhanced cognitive models from user interface development models , 2014, EICS '14.

[6]  Raj M. Ratwani,et al.  A Real-Time Eye Tracking System for Predicting and Preventing Postcompletion Errors , 2011, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[7]  Alan Agresti,et al.  Categorical Data Analysis , 1991, International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.

[8]  Dario D. Salvucci.  On reconstruction of task context after interruption , 2010, CHI.

[9]  Wayne D. Gray.  The nature and processing of errors in interactive behavior , 2000, Cogn. Sci..

[10]  E. M. Altmann,et al.  Momentary interruptions can derail the train of thought. , 2014, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[11]  James Reason,et al.  Human Error , 1990 .

[12]  S. Greenberg,et al.  The Psychology of Everyday Things , 2012 .

[13]  Margaret Wilson,et al.  Six views of embodied cognition , 2002, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[14]  Jean Vanderdonckt,et al.  Model-Driven Engineering of User Interfaces: Promises, Successes, Failures, and Challenges , 2008 .

[15]  Michael D. Byrne,et al.  Task Structure and Postcompletion Error in the Execution of a Routine Procedure , 2006, Hum. Factors.

[16]  Ann Blandford,et al.  The effect of interruptions on postcompletion and other procedural errors: an account based on the activation-based goal memory model. , 2008, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[17]  John R Anderson,et al.  An integrated theory of the mind. , 2004, Psychological review.

[18]  G. Altman,et al.  Memory for goals , 2002 .

[19]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Skills, rules, and knowledge; signals, signs, and symbols, and other distinctions in human performance models , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[20]  Jef Raskin.  Looking for a humane interface: will computers ever become easy to use? , 1997, CACM.

[21]  Marc Halbrügge,et al.  ACT-CV: Bridging the Gap between Cognitive Models and the Outer World , 2013 .

[22]  T. Shallice,et al.  CONTENTION SCHEDULING AND THE CONTROL OF ROUTINE ACTIVITIES , 2000, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[23]  J. Gregory Trafton,et al.  Erratum to "Memories for goals: An activation-based model"[Cognitive Science 26 (2002) 39-83] , 2002, Cogn. Sci..

[24]  Marc Halbrügge Klaus-Peter Engelbrecht.  An activation-based model of execution delays of specific task steps , 2014 .

[25]  Jean Vanderdonckt,et al.  A Unifying Reference Framework for multi-target user interfaces , 2003, Interact. Comput..