A COMPREHENSION-BASED MODEL OF CORRECT PERFORMANCE AND ERRORS IN SKILLED, DISPLAY-BASED, HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION

This paper describes a computational model of skilled use of an applic ation with a graphical user interface. The model provides a principled explanation of action slips, errors made by experienced users. The mo del is based on Hutchins, Holland and Norman's analysis of direct mani pulation and is implemented using Kintsch and Mannes's construction-in tegration theory of action planning. The model attends to a limited nu mber of objects on the screen and then selects action on one of them, such as moving mouse cursor, clicking mouse button, typing letters, an d so on, by integrating information from various sources. These source s include the display, task goals, expected display states, and knowle dge about the interface and the application domain. The model simulate s a graph drawing task. In addition, we describe how the model makes e rrors even when it is provided with the knowledge sufficient to genera te correct actions. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited