Chapter 7 - Our Attention is Limited; Our Memory is Imperfect

Abstract

This chapter describes some of those strengths and weaknesses as background for understanding how one can design interactive systems to support and augment human memory rather than burdening or confusing it. It also explains short-term verses long-term memory; Psychologists historically have distinguished short-term memory from long-term memory. Short-term memory covers situations in which information is retained for very short intervals ranging from a fraction of a second up to several seconds—perhaps as long as a minute. Long-term memory covers situations in which information is retained over longer periods, e.g., minutes, hours, days, years, and even lifetimes. In addition, this chapter also provides characteristics of short term memory and long term memory, and implications of long-term memory characteristics for user interface design.