As the web matures we develop new technologies and create new conventions. But still – there are things that never change. Our eyeballs are no different from those of Arkhimedes nor does our nerve structure differ from that of Sokrates. In the end we are what we are and that sets us limits.

Cognitive psychology studies individual-level mental processes such as information processing, attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, decision-making and thinking. From this science we draw the backbone of our user interfaces and usability. We introduce here the fundaments from cognitive psychology relevant to web site user interface design.

Our cognition is a complex thing. We can and should make known the difference between what are conventions that guide our cognition and what are the actual ”hardware” limitations. As the web evolves we gain new ways of controlling the appearance and behaviour of the content there. Conventions we can change over time, but some things are constant. In this presentation we discuss this difference through examples.

Our goal is to learn to
– Learn the basic principles of cognitive psychology.
– Identify how the principles of perception affect web usability.
– Improve usability and accessibility by making use of the known principles of human cognition.