Reference Information
Title: Design of Everyday Things
Author: Donald Norman
Publisher: Basic Books (2002)
Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World (27 Pages)
Summary
The third chapter is mainly about how people remember things and how information is presented in the world. He talks about the differences between declarative and procedural knowledge. He says that great precision is not required for many tasks. Perfectly acceptable behavior will occur if one can just distinguish the correct choice from others (day to day activities). Norman also discuss the structure of memory in three categories: memory for arbitrary things, memory for meaningful relationships and memory through explanation.
Discussion
I particularly like the section about the structure of memory (page 66). I read a lot of Malcolm Gladwell books and he wrote a story similar to the beginning of "The Structure of Memory" section of this chapter. Interestingly, it is found that Chinese-speaking children can remember a much longer string of numbers than their English-speaking counterparts. This is not because they are smarter; it is because their numbers are shorter and quicker to say. They can hold more in their "immediate" short-term memory.
The third chapter is mainly about how people remember things and how information is presented in the world. He talks about the differences between declarative and procedural knowledge. He says that great precision is not required for many tasks. Perfectly acceptable behavior will occur if one can just distinguish the correct choice from others (day to day activities). Norman also discuss the structure of memory in three categories: memory for arbitrary things, memory for meaningful relationships and memory through explanation.
Discussion
I particularly like the section about the structure of memory (page 66). I read a lot of Malcolm Gladwell books and he wrote a story similar to the beginning of "The Structure of Memory" section of this chapter. Interestingly, it is found that Chinese-speaking children can remember a much longer string of numbers than their English-speaking counterparts. This is not because they are smarter; it is because their numbers are shorter and quicker to say. They can hold more in their "immediate" short-term memory.
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