A normal-sized, black coffee cup with a handle, of course, sitting in the middle of a wooden picnic table, is filled with hazelnut coffee. While one many view this simply as a cup on a table, it is possible that another will view the cup as a metaphor for the fresh beginning of a new day. In the cyber world, Kine Dorum, a PhD Student at the University of Leicester, in Great Britain, analyzes the way humans use images from past experiences as a guide when using the computer rather then directly associating computer images to real-life.
Dorum hopes to develop a set of common attributes in predicting individuals’ behaviors and performances while on the computer through her notion that the universe on screen is similar to perceptions of “real life” based on past experiences. “The effect of familiarity is so strong that it can have a greater impact than other factors that have previously been found to affect people's ability to use computer environments, such as individual thinking styles and a person's ability to orient themselves in space,” she said.
When “surfing” the net, the epistemological nature of an individual in lieu of the way they view an internet-site is comparable to ones association of a new city to one that is familiar, for example. One of Dorum’s studies involved comparing three corresponding websites to different real-world scenarios. Results demonstrated references to similar past experiences being stronger than how realistic the layout was.
By using the example of specific icons on the computer screen, Dorum supports her findings. “In other words, we don't need an image of a door presented on the screen in order to see a door in our mind, and a button on a website does not necessarily need to look like a real button.”
Understanding perceptions of every individual who uses a computer may be impossible, but developing criteria for professionals in the computer field as a source in the progressing market, is much more realistic. Dorum’s findings, which may change the way computers are designed visually, connects her interest in psychology to computers by looking at people’s diverse capabilities in computer-based material.
Dorum’s research has recently been presented to professionals the University of Leicester during the Festival of Postgraduate Research serving to educate the public and give postgraduate researchers, like Dorum, the opportunity to explain how their research is applicable to the real world.
