Cognitive Design

The words we use to explain or create designs have an enormous impact on cognition. This may seem obvious but understanding the details of the impact can help designers select words as carefully as they select other features, functions and forms.

Detailed insight into the cognitive effects of word choice is the subject of the recent article, The Role of Medical Language in Changing Public Perception of Illness.  The authors studied the impact of medical versus lay terminology on perceptions (e.g. seriousness) held about the underlying condition. 

Some of the terms studied include:

 For recently medicalized disorders:

“This study demonstrates that the use of medical language in communication can induce bias in perception; a simple switch in terminology results in a disease being perceived as more serious, more likely to be a disease, and more likely to be a rare condition.”  

Clear evidence that the words we use in design can trigger strong cognitive side effects.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Cognitive Bias. 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.