If You Look for One Thing, You Ignore Everything Else
“Our Perception is Biased.”
Did you know that our perception has a bias? One perception theory that I chose to explore is based on Chapter 1 of the Designing with the Mind in Mind book by Jeff Johnson. The theory states that what we perceive is not an accurate reflection of our environment. What we see in the average day isn’t always what is really happening in the world. It always has a bias. It is influenced by what we have experienced in the past, what is happening currently, and what we set for future goals. These factors give a biased perception for designing interactive systems. People’s experiences and opinions cause them to see things differently. They see things subjectively based on human psychology.
One of the ways that perception can be biased is by future goals. For example, this takes place when you are looking for Oreo cookies in the grocery store aisle. When you find them and take them to check out, someone then may ask you if you noticed any Chips Ahoy cookies on the shelf.
You may have no memory of seeing them, even when they were right next to the Oreos! This is the perceptional bias I chose to study.
Card Game Project
I thought about ways to show that if you look for one thing, you ignore everything else. I developed the idea for creating a card game for my project because I thought that it would demonstrate this concept in a fun and creative way. I felt it was effective and unique compared to other methods of showing a theory. I thought it would be better than using a single poster example and would be more engaging. I started with a sketch of my idea.
My card game project demonstrates the theory by asking people to locate a specific pattern on a card. Once they locate it, the card is then hidden, and the subject is next asked to recall another pattern that was also on the card. In most cases, the subject will not recall seeing it because he was focused on looking for the original pattern.
This project demonstrates the theory because it shows that perception is biased. It uses the power of suggestion to cause people to see only what they are looking for and not recall much of anything else. I conducted the original tests using a Google Forms survey format. I tested my relatives and a family friend.
Surprising Results
The most important feedback from the testing was that it became obvious that I had not made my prototype difficult enough. It was too easy, and people were able to remember the other details on the cards. This was not a proper demonstration of the theory which was supposed to show that people would NOT remember the other patterns they saw on the cards. This was the most enlightening step of the design process because it caused me to realize what changes needed to be made in the card game. I had designed my prototype using simple shapes and originally had no color on it. I used Adobe Illustrator for creating shapes and printed the cards out. I then added the images of the cards to the Google Forms survey.
However, when I realized that my examples were too simple, I then had to make a more complicated design, like you would be exposed to in the real world, such as in the cookie example.
My Own Perception Bias
The results of the tests revealed that my cards were too simple and the patterns needed to be more varied to demonstrate the theory. It surprised me to learn that it did not work. I was expecting different results. Most surprising was that it also showed my own perception bias. I originally thought my design would demonstrate the theory because that is what I wanted to see!
I added color and added more shapes to my cards and tried them again. This time, people had more difficulty with the follow-up question.
Conclusion
I worked through the problem by using color on the cards and adding more patterns. These cards demonstrated the theory much better because subjects had more difficulty answering the follow-up question and therefore had been more focused on their original task. They did not notice the other patterns on the cards nearly as much. This card game did a better job demonstrating the perception theory I had set out to show.
