Glossary - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 409

Distributed learning Learning that occurs when practice is distributed over time
in such a way that there are gaps between practice sessions.
Efficiency A system property that can be measured through its use of resources
such as processor time, memory, network access, system facilities, disk space,
and so on.
Einstellung Einstellung is related to Functional Fixedness but refers to the situ-
ation where a person gets fixated on a strategy to solve a problem.
Ergonomics The field that is concerned with providing a good fit between people
and their work or leisure environments. Often used interchangeably with human
factors.
Error The part of the system state that may lead to a subsequent failure.
Esthetics Relates to the characteristics of an object or system that make it plea-
surable to use.
Event tree An inductive method for analyzing errors using a graphical binary tree
representation.
Explicit memory A hypothesized store of items that can be explicitly reported.
Most declarative information can be explicitly reported. Often used in contrast
to Implicit memory.
Extrinsic motivation Motivation that arises from factors outside the individual,
such as being paid to do something.
Eye-tracking A method for recording where the user's eyes are looking using a
dedicated device (an eye-tracker).
Failure Something that occurs when the service that is delivered by a system or
component is judged to have deviated from its specification.
Fault The adjudged cause of an error within a system.
Fault tree A deductive method for analyzing the causal factors that contribute to
an error or accident, using a graphical tree representation.
Feeling of knowing Refers to the feelings an individual has about their knowl-
edge on a particular topic, and particularly whether or not that knowledge exists
within memory. It normally relates to making judgments either prior to
recalling the target item, or after failing to recall it. The focus is on whether an
individual feels that they know the answer, rather than what the answer actually
is. Often used in the context of metacognition.
Field experiments Field experiments are trials of technologies in real world
settings.
Field studies Evaluations that are carried out in the field, that is, in real world
settings.