ACT-R/PM and menu selection: applying a cognitive architecture to HCI

Abstract

Understanding the interaction of a user with a designed device such as a GUI requires clear understanding of three components: the cognitive, perceptual and motor capabilities of the user, the task to be accomplished and the artefact used to accomplish the task. Computational modeling systems which enable serious consideration of all these constraints have only recently begun to emerge. One such system is ACT-R/PM, which is described in detail. ACT-R/PM is a production system architecture that has been augmented with a set of perceptual-motor modules designed to enable the detailed modeling of interactive tasks. Nilsen's (1991) random menu selection task serves two goals: to illustrate the promise of this system and to help further our understanding of the processes underlying menu selection and visual search. Nilsen's original study, two earlier models of the task, and recent eye-tracking data are all considered. Drawing from the best properties of the previous models considered and guided by information from the eye-tracking experiment, a series of new models of random menu selection were constructed using ACT-R/PM. The final model provides a zero-parameter fit to the data that does an excellent, though not perfect, job of capturing the data.