UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRANSFER OF MENTAL MODELS IN THE USE OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES

It has been emphasized that understanding mental models is critical in problem solving, design, and reasoning. It also has been claimed that grasping mental models is difficult because mental models likely depend on our knowledge and experience. We focused attention on the transfer of mental models because we assumed that transfer probably has some common cognitive characteristics. In this study, the transfer group (A-B) and the non-transfer group (B) were prepared. In the transfer group, participants operated product A and product B in turn. By contrast, participants in the non-transfer group operated product B first. Operational time for product B in both groups was compared to examine how well mental models were transferred. We found that reducing the number of operational procedures could trigger the positive transfer of mental models if the other operational procedures were congruent.

[1]  Kenneth D. Forbus.  Qualitative Reasoning About Space and Motion , 1983 .

[2]  Thomas P. Moran,et al.  Mental models and problem solving in using a calculator , 1983, CHI '83.

[3]  G Salvendy,et al.  Expert-novice knowledge of computer programming at different levels of abstraction. , 1996, Ergonomics.

[4]  Mark Chignell,et al.  Assessment of the effects of user characteristics on mental models of information retrieval systems , 2001 .

[5]  Christine L. Borgman.  The user's mental model of an information retrieval system: an experiment on a prototype online catalog , 1999, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[6]  David N. Ford,et al.  Mental models concepts for system dynamics research , 1998 .

[7]  J Baron,et al.  Individual differences in syllogistic reasoning: deduction rules or mental models? , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[8]  P. Johnson-Laird.  Mental models , 1989 .

[9]  David Greathead,et al.  When mental models go wrong: co-occurrences in dynamic, critical systems , 2004, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[10]  Philip Henning,et al.  Mental Models: Knowledge in the Head and Knowledge in the World , 1996, ICLS.

[11]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The Transfer of Text-Editing Skill , 1985, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[12]  Bonnie E. John,et al.  The Strategic Use of Complex Computer Systems , 2000, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[13]  John R. Anderson,et al.  The Transfer of Cognitive Skill , 1989 .

[14]  R. E. Geiselman,et al.  Enhancement of eyewitness memory: An empirical evaluation of the cognitive interview. , 1984 .

[15]  David E. Kieras,et al.  The Role of a Mental Model in Learning to Operate a Device. , 1984 .

[16]  Kathleen M. Carley,et al.  Extracting, Representing, and Analyzing Mental Models , 1992 .

[17]  Lloyd H. Nakatani,et al.  Soft machines: A philosophy of user-computer interface design , 1983, CHI '83.

[18]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Some observations on mental models , 1987 .

[19]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology : On the dynamics between growth and decline , 1987 .

[20]  Nancy Staggers,et al.  Mental Models: Concepts for Human-Computer Interaction Research , 1993, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[21]  D. Gentner,et al.  Flowing waters or teeming crowds: Mental models of electricity , 1982 .

[22]  Jiajie Zhang,et al.  Representations in Distributed Cognitive Tasks , 1994, Cogn. Sci..