Predicting the learnability of task-action mappings
Andrew J. Howes, Richard M. Young · 1991
Programmable User Models (PUMS) are tools based on psychological theory that enable interface designers to predict the usability of a proposed design.This paper presents a variant in which the PUM, implemented in Soar and incorporating the constraints of Display-based Task-Action Grammars, learns the task-action mapping by being guided by the designer during performance.We show that the more consistent and interactive the interface, the easier it is for the designer to teach the PUM the necessary taskaction mapping. PREDICTING INTERFACE LEARNABILITYA Programmable User Model (PUM, [14]) is a psychologically constrained architecture in which the interface designer is invited to program a simulation of a user.By making the user's knowledge explicit, PUMS