Usability Evaluation Models - High Level Models and Methodologies for Information Systems - page 85

5.7 Adaptative Control of Thought-Rational Model

ACT-R is a cognitive design to understand human cognitive psychology and human
performance. This model aims to understand how people consolidate knowledge
and produce intelligent behavior, as this model will assist users to recall the
information from the memory and try to resolve problems by breaking them down
into headings and subheadings and later applying knowledge from working
memory to generate valuable data. The ACT-R theories are human information
processing and knowledge representation theories (Anderson 1993 ; Hinesley 2007 ).
There are two types in ACT-R, namely declarative and procedural knowledge.
Declarative knowledge involves knowing that something is the case, i.e., Perth is
the capital of Western Australia, as well includes various types of knowledge, i.e.,
goals that are active. However, procedural knowledge involves knowing how to do
something, i.e., ride a car. This knowledge involves if/then statements that stipulate
how a speci

c goal can be achieved when speci ed conditions are met (Whitechill

n.d. ).

5.8 Adaptative Control of Thought in Information
Foraging Model (Act-IF)

ACT-IF model is based on conventional foraging theory metrics and equations that
are described by Pirolli and Card ( 1999 ). This model presents a cognitive model for
information foraging, as the ef ciency of information retrieval is calculated by

assessments of information scent with heuristic values for the selection of pro-
duction rules (Spink and Cole 2006 ; Trepess n.d. ). Scent following is the

“

per-
ception of the value, cost or access path of information sources obtain from
proximal cues such as bibliographic citations, WWW, links or icons representing
the sources rm that if

the scent is strong, the information forager can make the correct choice, and if there
is no scent, the forager will have to perform a ranking walk-through the environ-
ment. Finally, Spink and Cole ( 2006 ) con

” (Pirolli and Card 1999 , p. 646). Pirolli and Card ( 1999 ) con

rm that this model aims to examine HCI,
information retrieval, and Web systems within information foraging approach based
on evolutionary psychology.
In conclusion, this chapter examined and inspected the cognitive engineering
and usability evaluation models which are aiming to scrutinize users

reaction and
behavior toward interface, WWW and system. This evaluation is a challenging
exercise for users, designers and HCI experts, since the testing and evaluation
should be presented and performed well in turn to identify the problems well and to
enhance the design in sequence to match users

'

' needs.