Human Computer Interaction (HCI) - Interaction Design Foundation

Feb 1, 2022 15 min read

Learn the entire spectrum of UX design from 32 beginner to advanced courses on Interaction Design Foundation. Get taught by industry experts and gain recognized certificates to advance your career.

Interactions between computers and humans should be as intuitive as conversations between two humans—and yet many products and services fail to achieve this. So, what do you need to know so as to create an intuitive user experience? Human psychology? Emotional design? Specialized design processes? The answer is, of course, all of the above, and this course will cover them all.

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is about understanding what it means to be a user of a computer (which is more complicated than it sounds), and therefore how to create related products and services that work seamlessly. It’s an important skill to master, because it gives any company the perspective and knowledge needed to build products that work more efficiently and therefore sell better. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the Computer and IT occupation to grow by 12% from 2014–2024, faster than the average for all occupations. This goes to show the immense demand in the market for professionals equipped with the right computer and IT skills.

Quiz Answers for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) on Interaction Design Foundation

Lesson 1: Introducing Human-computer Interaction

When users interact with systems they expect…?

All elements to work together to provide a cohesive experience
All elements to operate independently from one another
There are elements they are not meant to use

According to Alan Dix, which are the disciplines that are less present today in HCI but should and will be in the near future?

Ergonomics and product design
Computer and psychology
Philosophy and art

What is the biggest trend in HCI?

The Internet fridge
Ubiquitous and wearable computing
One man, one computer

Fields such as ubicomp and wearable/cyborg computing are examples of a key trend affecting HCI. This trend is about:

The blurring between the boundaries of the physical and digital worlds
Computer chips implanted under our skin
Computers being more portable

Lesson 2: Interaction Design

Which of these is an important doctrine underlying human-computer interaction?

Interactions, not just interfaces
Interfaces, not just interactions
Interactions and interfaces are equal

The process of designing user-friendly products is founded on…?

Interactions and technology
Intervention and change
Artefacts and edifices

Trade-offs in design are important because…?

the user is always right
there may be conflicting goals
e-commerce is becoming increasingly common

An experienced web designer is creating interactive TV apps. She makes them as like a web interface as possible. This is:

good to help people learn the new interface through consistency and an example of the need for trade-off in design
bad because it violates “understand your materials”
all of the above

On a long haul flight, a sleepy passenger accidentally opens the outside door instead of the toilet door; the cabin depressurizes and the plane crashes. This is an example of…?

Design error
Human error
Mental fatigue

Iterative design is common for interactive systems because…?

Programmers use loops in their code
In many interactive systems you need to perform similar steps again and again
Designers never get it right first time

What is the first stage of an interaction design process?

Design a prototype - so that you have something to evaluate
Requirements - finding out about people and what they want
Choosing the appropriate delivery platform

Design is…?

Achieving goals within constraints
Best considered as a combination of creativity and genius on the designer’s part
A simple job, when you just ask the user what they need

What is the hardest part of the design process, when your time and budget is limited?

Deciding which problems to solve
Finding problems
Fixing them

A persona is…?

Chosen by the user when they log into a system
A summary of key user characteristics
A rich description of potential and/or actual users

Technology probes…?

Are designs, items, systems that encourage users to think about new technologies
Are designs, items, systems that help designers test their products in the intended setting and identify user needs
Both of the above

Which of the following statements is true of a scenario?

It’s a design story
Helps you to explore all the possible alternative paths through a system
Determines the right solution

Structure in design relates to…?

Certain aesthetic decisions and the way the product relates to other applications
Local and global qualities
All of the above

Of the following simple heuristics, which one was NOT outlined in the video?

Knowing where you are
Knowing what you can do
Knowing how to carry out an action

Memory is often a more critical issue when…?

There are many items on the screen
The items are arranged in a deep user interface
The items are arranged in a broad user interface

When designing the physical layout on a washing machine, which of the following options is the closest analogy in website design?

Choice of background image
Choice of colors
Site structure

Modes
Big buttons
Breadcrumbs

Of the following, which one is NOT a tool available to the screen designer?

Grouping, ordering and aligning items
White space
A hammer icon

When using white space in screen design it is important that…?

Form matches function
White space is used sparingly
Related items are separated by large areas of white space

An example of decoration supporting use can be seen in the way _ in the microwave controls demonstrated. Please choose the correct option to fill the blank.

Different colours are used to represent different functions
Green has been used as the background colour
The controls are superficially uninteresting

Please choose the correct option to complete the following statement: Deliberately design the affordances of the display ____.

So the methods of interaction are always based on real-world experiences
So the physical attributes correspond to what you can actually do
So the user can use different actions for the same function

3D effects are particularly problematic with which of the following display methods?

Bar graphs
Graphical dials/gauges
Pie Charts

At a company meeting the CEO wants to make it as hard as possible to read the financial figures (all in euros and cents). Therefore, he should…? (N.B. The aim is to make it bad!)

Left align the digits
Right align the digits
Align the digits on the decimal point stop

As similar as possible to avoid eye strain
As different as possible to increase contrast
It doesn’t matter; either way will do

Getting better and starting well in the context of iterative prototyping means:

You can start with a not that good design and improve it via iterations
You should start with the best possible design and a deep knowledge of your users to iterate well
You should understand clearly your users and the technology you’re using so that you can jump to a high-fidelity prototype from the start

Lesson 3: Cognition and Perception

Human cognition is often thought of in terms of…?

Computational analogies
Perception analogies
Analogous analogies

Proprioception…?

Is the area at the edge of vision that is sensitive in poor light conditions
Is a culturally learnt sense of what is socially correct or proper
Is the sense of knowing where your body is

While focused on the YouTube video, the student reaches out for the coffee cup. Successfully picking up the cup depends on…?

Peripheral vision and proprioception
Binaural cues
Foveal vision and stereo cues

Bright sunlight temporarily blinding the spot opposite on the back of the eye
A bundle of nerves connecting to the retina
The ligaments holding the eye in its socket

Peripheral vision is less clear because…?

You have less cones at the edges of your retina
You have more cones at the edges of your retina
The iris interferes with light entering the eye

You are very sensitive to movement at the edge of your vision at night because…?

You are more nervous in the dark
There are more cones at the edge of your visual cortex
The cells at the edge are relatively more active in low light conditions

The auditory sense is dominant when we:

Do wayfinding
Communicate
Eat food

Sound is often used in user interfaces to…?

Attract the user’s attention
Provide important feedback following an action or event
Both of the above

Further to the exercise outlined in the video, which of the following is NOT an optical illusion? (A quick Google will give you the answer)

The Muller-Lyer Illusion
Moon Illusion
Upside Down Slide Illusion

The image at the back of your eye is upside down because…?

This means the most important parts avoid the blind spot
We develop head down in the womb
Lenses turn everything upside down

You are in London and hear a police car siren. You can hear it is coming from the left-hand side. This is because…?

Traffic in the UK drives on the left-hand side of the road
You have two ears and binaural hearing
The left-hand side of the brain is best for processing speech

Lesson 4: Memory

Memory is the process by which…?

Information is encoded and stored
Information is retrieved
Both of the above

Short-term memory is also referred to as…?

Long-term memory
Cognitive memory
Working memory

Without …………. information is lost from short-term memory. Please fill the blank with the correct option.

Distinctiveness
Rehearsal
Elaboration

Long-term memory is heavily influenced by…?

Context
Rehearsal
Both of the above

Human memories are formed…?

As accurate, photographic representations
By piecing together elements according to our understanding of the world, context and meaning
As a combination of photographic representations and rough elements

Of the following user interface design elements, which one would cause a problem for short-term memory?

A top-level navigation bar with eight different navigation points
A multi-stage data entry task, such as making an online purchase, where the user cannot see completed stages in the overall process
A dropdown menu where all of the options are visible at once

“Learning cannot occur without memory” Is a statement…?

Made by someone that does not understand how the psychology of memory works
That clearly explains the required precondition for learning
That should lead the politics in education

If you remember what you had for breakfast, this is…?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

You read a phone number from a poster and keep repeating it to yourself until you type it into your phone. This is an example of using…?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

Most of your memories as a child are of single events. This is…?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

Based on Miller’s 7 +/-2 short-term memory findings, which of these would be easier to recall after hearing them spoken once?

935
7396492
479 364 175 385 127 374 345

Which of these is predominantly stored by physical growth of neurons?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

Which of the following is predominantly stored electrically (ionically)?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

Menus are easy to use because…?

Miller’s 7 +/-2 means they are easy to remember
The chemical association with food improves retention
We are better at recognition than recall

In psychology, tacit knowledge refers to…?

Things you can touch and feel
Things you do, can do or think, but may not know explicitly
Rumsfeld’s unknown unknowns

Which of the following is poorly studied in the psychological literature…?

Short-term memory
Mezzanine memory
Long-term memory

Lesson 5: Thinking and Action

Which of the following is generally NOT common in real-world reasoning?

Falsification
Satisficing
Abduction

When taking the Wason test with the following cards ‘E’, ‘7’, ‘K’, and ‘2’, most people would generally choose which of the permutations?

‘E’ and ‘K’
‘E’ and ‘2’
‘E’ and ‘7’

Fitts' Law states…?

The further away an object, the longer it takes to click
Distance does not affect clicking
The size of the target has no effect on clicking

When moving from one item to another, which of the following design elements would likely produce the longest average selection times?

A pie chart (pieces of the pie)
A megamenu (Items arranged rectangularly, in two dimensions)
A dropdown menu (items arranged in a vertical list)

Lesson 6: Emotion and Experience

ISO 9241 mentions three aspects of user-centred design: effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Which two were most often quoted?

Effectiveness and efficiency
Effectiveness and satisfaction
Efficiency and satisfaction

User experience is more important for web services compared to shrink-wrapped products because…?

They are cheaper
You get a greater range of choice
You get more choices more often

Affective computing is a term mostly used to:

Define systems that work as a conduit of emotions
Define systems that detect and react to the person’s emotions
A type of computing that deals with affects

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a hungry artist with the choice between a paintbrush and a loaf of bread would first choose to…?

Paint
Eat
Paint the loaf as avant-garde art

A children’s online lesson is fun. This is an example of a system where…?

Emotion is the primary goal
Emotion is the secondary goal
It acts as a conduit for emotion

A children’s online spelling lesson involves driving a car round a race track, and then doing short spelling tests during pit-stops. As a way of learning language, this is an example of…?

Intrinsic motivation
Conceptual learning
Extrinsic motivation

Which of the following is an example of emotion expression in user interface design?

Capitalisation
Option numbering
Margins

Which of these is at the top of Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’?

Love and Belonging
Esteem
Self-actualisation

Which of the following is not a basic emotion?

Fear.
Shame.
Happiness.

When someone is in flow, he or she is

Bored
Between boredom and anxiety
Anxious

According to McCarthy and Wright’s theory of enhancement, which of the following is NOT one of the four ‘threads of experience’?

Sensual
Spatio-temporal
Proximal development

When you get a virtual cracker, you first of all have to open the file, then click the ‘open’ button and only then see the cracker. This is…?

Bad because it takes more clicks than necessary
Bad because the developers did not understand user experience design
Good because it builds anticipation

Inconsistent design is associated with which emotional response?

Frustration
Happiness
Laughter

Which of the following would be most important for a designer to think about peak experience?

A special word-processor to be used by all primary school children
A bank cash machine
A family photo album website

Which of the following is true of a peak (‘Mars bar’) product, compared with a good enough (‘Baked bean’) product?

For anyone, some peak product will always be preferred over a good enough product and a good enough product is best when everyone needs to use it
A peak product will be preferred by somebody over a good-enough product
Both of the above

“Extended episodic experience is so named because some experiences, such as going for a day out, take a long time”. Is this…?

Correct
Incorrect
Ambiguous

Which of the following best describes suitable methods for peak experience design?

Use profiles, average and typical
Extreme personas, average and typical
Extreme personas, specific and eclectic

Thinking “will she feel happy to see this picture” is an example of…?

Second order model of mind
First order model of mind
Both of the above

Interlinked events include…?

Prospection
Retrospection
Both of the above

Lesson 7: Implementation

Which of the following options is NOT a way in which human-computer interaction directly affects the programmer?

Levels of abstraction
The size of the design team
Layers of development tools

In terms of window layouts, when dealing with a single application…?

The time is being shared
The space is being shared
The time and space is being shared

In most smartphone designs…?

The windows management is not closely tied to the operating system.
The windows management is tightly coupled with the operating system.
Each application manages everything.

By using a toolkit you are more often able to…?

Copy/paste
Manage applications
Port between platforms

There are four major ways toolkits manage painting to screen, which of the following options is NOT one of these four methods?

Direct to the screen
With the use of a separate buffer
Specifying from an unknown viewpoint

Event models are about…?

Understanding the things the user is doing
Anything that is happening the application should know about
Both of the above

Of the following options, which one is NOT an event model for management systems?

Read-evaluation loop
Notification-based
User-directed input

Although all but extinct, User Interface Management Systems (UIMS) helps to improve…?

Portability and Reusability
Customizability and Accessing the same functionality on multiple interfaces
All of the above

In terms of human-computer interaction MVC stands for…?

Model-View Controller
Most Viewed Category
Management Variant Categorisation

In the Seeheim model, information from the application interface model is relayed to the user by the process of….?

Direct displayed content
Rapid semantic feedback
Progressive disclosure

There are three major types of system feedback. Please identify the three types of system feedback from the options below.

Lexical, Episodic, and Semantic
Lexical, Semantic, and Elaborate
Lexical, Syntactic, and Semantic

Lesson 8: Evaluation

Quantitative evaluation focuses on…?

What is true?
Why?
Where?

When developing a new product, which of the following questions might you ask during evaluation?

Is the new product better than its predecessor?
Does the new product still meet the needs satisfied by the predecessor?
Both of the above

Which of the following is NOT one of the four golden rules from lesson 2?

Where you are
What you can do
What you don’t want to do

According to Jakob Nielsen, how many test users is usually enough in a usability evaluation studies?

If “Fitts” Law is true…?

Then the slope for the larger groups will have a steeper gradient than the smaller groups
Then the slope for the smaller groups will have a steeper gradient than the larger groups
Then the slope for the smaller and larger groups will be the same

Descriptive knowledge refers to…?

Explaining what happened after the event has taken place
Predicting what will happen according to one or more variables
Both of the above

Measuring reaction times for the Wason test would produce…?

Quantitative data
Qualitative data
Both of the above

One way of dealing with singularity when conducting usability testing is…?

Collecting quantitative and qualitative data
Sampling
Focussing on descriptive knowledge

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) on Interaction Design Foundation

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