s or hours very day, a d most o t ut s me I f get to plug it in and my y gets low. There is an indicator on my
antly sho power is disappearin , but if I’m at home I think I’m plugged in, and I don’t notice the indicator.
Ev t ally (ab ut ei ht p en f attery left), my computer makes a sound and a ge pops up to alert me that the battery is very low. T is is an example of g -ing when an event is infrequent, but import nt. (I wish that Appl ga e me the op ion f customizing whe I w nt to be alerted, howe By the time I get the al h b really low. Then I run around panicked trying to find my plug or an outlet, or saving files.
Takeaways
People will build an unconscious mental model of how often an event occurs.
If you’re designing a product or application where people need to notice an event that rarely occurs, use a strong signal to get their attention when it does.
I use my laptop for hours every day, and most of the time it’s plugged in. But sometimes I forget to plug it in and my battery gets low. There is an indicator on my screen that constantly shows that the battery power is disappearing, but if I’m at home I think I’m plugged in, and I don’t notice the indicator.
Eventually (about eight percent of battery left), my computer makes a sound and a message pops up to alert me that the battery is very low. This is an example of signal-ing when an event is infrequent, but important. (I wish that Apple gave me the option of customizing when I want to be alerted, however. By the time I get the alert, the battery is really low. Then I run around panicked trying to find my plug or an outlet, or saving files.)
103 SUSTAINED ATTENTION LASTS ABOUT TEN MINUTES
44 SUSTAINED ATTENTION LASTS ABOUT TEN MINUTES
Imagine you’re in a meeting and someone is presenting sales figures for the last quar-ter. How long can she hold your attention? If the topic is of interest to you, and she is a good presenter, you can focus on the presentation about 7 to 10 minutes at most. If you’re not interested in the topic or the presenter is particularly boring, then you’ll lose interest much faster. Figure 44.1 shows what the graph looks like.
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FIGURE 44.1Attention starts to wane after 10 minutes
People can take a short break and then start over with another 7- to 10-minute period, but 7 to 10 minutes is about as long as we can pay attention to any one task.
If you’re designing a Web site, you’re probably designing pages that someone views for a lot less than seven minutes. You’re assuming that someone comes to the page, looks for a link, and clicks on it. But sometimes you might be adding in other media, such as audio or video. These media are subject to the 7 to 10 minute rule. TED videos are typically 20 minutes long, so they’re going over the limit (although they have some of the world’s greatest speakers, and so might be able to stretch it). Lynda.com does a good job of keeping most of their online tutorials under 10 minutes.
Takeaways
Assume that you have at most 7 to 10 minutes of a person’s attention.
If you must hold attention longer than 7 to 10 minutes, introduce novel information or a break.
Keep online demos or tutorials under 7 minutes in length.
44
45 PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION ONLY TO SALIENT CUES
Look at the pictures of a U.S. penny in Figure 45.1. Which one is the real penny? Don’t cheat. Try and figure it out first, before you go get a penny to check.
FIGURE 45.1Which is the real penny?
If you live in the U.S. and use U.S. coins, then a penny is something you’ve probably seen a lot. But you only pay attention to certain attributes of the penny, for instance, its color and size. These are what psychologists call “salient cues.” You only pay attention to what you need for the task at hand. Although there’s a lot of detail on the penny, a lot of cues, the salient ones for most people are color and size. If you’re a coin collector, then the salient cues are different. Salient cues for a coin collector might include the date, wording, or particular pictures.
As we saw in the chapter on “How People See,” you can look at something and not really see it. Similarly, everyday you experience a lot of things through sight, sound, taste, and touch that you don’t pay attention to. People are unconsciously aware that they have limited resources, and the brain therefore decides what it really needs to pay attention to and what it can ignore.
Did you guess the right penny? (It’s A.)
Takeaways
Decide what the salient cues are for your audience.
Design so that the salient cues are obvious.
Realize that people will probably only pay attention to salient cues.
105 46 PEOPLE CAN’T ACTUALLY MULTITASK
46 PEOPLE CAN’T ACTUALLY MULTITASK
I know it’s popular to think that you are multitasking, but the research is clear: people can’t actually multitask. (There’s one specific, possible exception that I’ll get to in a moment.)
For many years psychology research has shown that people can attend to only one task at a time. You can only think about one thing at a time. You can only conduct one mental activity at a time. So you can talk, or you can read. You can read, or you can type. You can listen, or you can read—one thing at a time. We are pretty good at switching back and forth quickly, so we think we are multitasking, but in reality we are not.