Glossary - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 413

KSA (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) Individual (or team) competencies that
influence behavior.
Learnability How easy it is to learn to use the system.
Learning curve A graphical representation of performance that is assumed to
reflect the learning that has occurred through practice. The shape of the curve
reflects how response time changes with practice on a task. The curve is often
described by a power law function and sometimes as an exponential function.
Loftus effect Refers to the fact that when people are presented with misleading
information between the encoding of another piece of information and its later
recall, the recall of the original information is altered by misleading informa-
tion. Often referred to as the (Loftus) misinformation effect.
Long term memory An unlimited capacity store for items that have been pro-
cessed or interpreted and permanently encoded.
Maintainability How easy a system is to maintain and upgrade over its lifetime.
Massed learning Learning that occurs when the practice is relatively or com-
pletely located within a single time period.
Mental model A user's mental model is a representation of some part of the
world that can include the structures of the world (the ontology of the relevant
objects), how they interact, and how the user can interact with them.
Metacognition Literally cognition about cognition. It includes knowledge about
when and how to use specific strategies for problem solving and learning. See
also Feeling of knowing.
Millisecond (ms) Abbreviated ms, this is one thousandth of a second.
Mistake A failure in planning. Refers to an action that was performed correctly
but in the wrong circumstances.
Mnemonic Mnemonics are techniques that help to increase the amount or quality
of information that can be stored, or the speed at which can it be retrieved.
Model human processor (MHP) One of the first simple integrated descriptions
of psychological knowledge relating to error-free human performance in HCI.
Need for cognition Refers to the fact that some users like to think, and seek out
opportunities to think, problem solve, and learn.
Normative behavior A term used to describe what people should do, rather than
what they really do.
Open loop behavior A pattern of behavior in which users anticipate what will
happen next in a particular situation, and take actions on that basis. There is
little or no need to monitor the results of the actions. Also described as feed-
forward control.