User cognitive representations: The case for an object oriented model

This study empirically investigates the effect on user performance using object oriented cognitive structures. The results indicate improvement in the quality (measured by response time and error rate) of decisions for subjects who were monitored in an experimental setting. These findings indicate the presence of object oriented properties in user cognition. Such an inference puts the theorized mechanisms of human information processing such as, cognitive economy, and limited storage space, in proper perspective. The study discusses implications of these findings for requirements analysis, user-interface design, and training. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.