Cognitive Design

The concept of mental energy plays a central role in cognitive design. We want to create artifacts that “lift users up” or generate and release more mental energy then they require to use. This means keeping cognitive load low and triggering a cascade of associations, meaning, emotions and other mental processes with a positive valence.

Until recently, there has been very little scientific investigation into the concept of mental energy. The North American Branch of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) has published a nice over of some of the most important work to date in  Mental Energy: Defining the Science.  Here is a brief summary that I wrote elsewhere:

“The ILSI defines mental energy in terms of three components or as “the ability to perform mental tasks, the intensity of feelings about energy/fatigue, and the motivation to accomplish mental and physical tasks.”   The first component or ability to perform mental tasks or cognition (in the narrow sense) includes attention, memory and speed of processing.  The second component is highly subjective and is based on how energetic we feel. It is transient and makes of the “mood of mental energy”.  The third component is motivation which is a measure of our enthusiasm and determination.”

So mental energy plays a fundamental role in cognitive design. We need to pay special attention to any features or functions that impact its use or production. Indeed, we can model and understand the interactions between a user and an artifact as the conversion of mental energy.   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.