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How Relevant is Hick's Law for HCI?

Authors:

Michel Beaudouin-Lafon,

Yves GuiardAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1 - 11

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376878

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Hick's law is a key quantitative law in Psychology that relates reaction time to the logarithm of the number of stimulus-response alternatives in a task. Its application to HCI is controversial: Some believe that the law does not apply to HCI tasks, others regard it as the cornerstone of interface design. The law, however, is often misunderstood. We review the choice-reaction time literature and argue that: (1) Hick's law speaks against, not for, the popular principle that 'less is better'; (2) logarithmic growth of observed temporal data is not necessarily interpretable in terms of Hick's law; (3) the stimulus-response paradigm is rarely relevant to HCI tasks, where choice-reaction time can often be assumed to be constant; and (4) for user interface design, a detailed examination of the effects on choice-reaction time of psychological processes such as visual search and decision making is more fruitful than a mere reference to Hick's law.

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3688501
Shi DZhu YJokinen JAcharya APutkonen AZhai SOulasvirta A(2024)CRTypist: Simulating Touchscreen Typing Behavior via Computational RationalityProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642918(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642918
Bhat SAlyahya S(2024)Infographics in Educational Settings: A Literature ReviewIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2023.334808312(1633-1649)Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3348083
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Index Terms

How Relevant is Hick's Law for HCI?
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI theory, concepts and models

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2020

10688 pages

ISBN:9781450367080

DOI:10.1145/3313831

General Chairs:
Regina Bernhaupt
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
,
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Monash University, Australia
,
David Verweij
Newcastle University, UK
,
Josh Andres
RMIT, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Joanna McGrenere
University of British Columbia, Canada
,
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
,
Ignacio Avellino
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
,
Alix Goguey
Grenoble Alpes University, France
,
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Shengdong (Shen) Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
,
Briane Paul Samson
Future University Hakodate, Japan & De La Salle University, Philippines
,
Rafal Kocielnik
University of Washington, USA

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Published: 23 April 2020

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3688501
Shi DZhu YJokinen JAcharya APutkonen AZhai SOulasvirta A(2024)CRTypist: Simulating Touchscreen Typing Behavior via Computational RationalityProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642918(1-17)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642918
Bhat SAlyahya S(2024)Infographics in Educational Settings: A Literature ReviewIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2023.334808312(1633-1649)Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3348083
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