In this chapter we look at some of the more fundamental theories and science that underpin HCI. Some of this is about the individual human psychology and physiology: our perception, cognition and physical abilities, including the full richness of human emotion, imagination and creativity. While technology changes almost day-to-day, these basics of the individual human brain and body have not changed in the last 10,000 years. However, we do adapt to new technology both individually in our lives and through evolving social structure Hence, theories underpinning HCI also include embodied action, humans working with computers and each other in the world, drawing on knowledge and theories from social sciences, philosophy and anthropology.
Contents
- Mind: cognition and emotion
- Memory and learning
- Decisions and thinking
- Emotion and feeling
- The world within
- Body: perception and action
- Perception and sensation
- Body and action
- Acting in the world
- Social and organisational
- Technology and interaction
- Chapter Keypoints
- Additional reading
Glossary items referenced in this chapter
action potential, activity theory, actor-network theory, adoption, affordance, AI systems, anchoring bias, appropriation, arousal, Austin, John, bandwidth, breakdown, Buxton's homunculus, chunks, clark, herb, cocktail party effect, cognitive biases, common ground, computer supported cooperative work, cones in the eye, constructive learning theory, control theory, critical mass, data synchronisation, design affordances, digital monopolies, dual-process model, embodiment, ergonomics, evolutionary psychology, execution-evaluation cycle, extended cognition, external cognition, externalities, exteroperception, fight or flight, fovography, habits, haptic devices, imagination, infrastructure, inner ear, interoception, intersubjectivity, lexical, limbic system, metacognitive, mezzanine memory, Miller's 7+/-2, mirror neurons, Necker cube, negative feedback loop, nudges, Pavlov's dogs, power dynamics, privilege, proprioception, race condition, repair, retina, rods in the eye, saccades, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, semantic, skeuomorphic, software architecture, speech-act theory, syntactic, technology adoption, working memory