Paying Attention to Attention
Mark Foltz
mfoltz@ai.mit.edu
April 17, 2002
Intelligent Room HCI Group

Demos!!!

Attention – What is it?

Attention – What is it?
A central aspect of our mental life
Visual and speech perception, discourse, …
Competition between salience (stimulus-driven) and intention (goal-driven)

Attention Is Crucial for HCI
Bandwidth mismatch
No Moore’s Law for humans
Pervasive = more info sources, more competition for attention
A research opportunity

Agenda
“Query by Attention,” Foltz and Davis 2001
“Notification, Disruption, and Memory,” Cutrell, Czerwinski, Horvitz 2001
Discussion/Brainstorming: Implications for E21

Perceptual Filtering

Information Filtering

Slide 9

Why Query by Attention?
User controls attention, instead of manipulating an interface
Rapid adjustment of query parameters
Immediate feedback
Can lead to more complete exploration of info space

Mapping Information to Perception

Mapping Information to Perception

Mapping Information to Perception

Mapping Information to Perception

Mapping Information to Perception

Slide 16

Interruptions: Issues
Interrupt or not?

Interruptions: Issues
Interrupt or not?
If so, when (now or later)?

Interruptions: Issues
Interrupt or not?
If so, when (now or later)?
And whom (individual, group, a delegate)?

Interruptions: Issues
Interrupt or not?
If so, when (now or later)?
And whom (individual, group, a delegate)?
And, how can we remember where we were?

Interruptions: policies

Interruptions: policies

Cutrell: Interrupting List Search
Task
Subjects search a list of book titles
Given either a title or a description (gist)
While being interrupted
Conditions (2 x 2 x 2)
Title vs. gist search
Cursor vs. no cursor
Interruptions vs. no interruptions
16 subjects

Findings
Gist search has a high reaction time
Title search has a high recovery time
Interruptions are more disruptive early in the primary task
More reminders requested

Design Principles for Attention:
Conveying information

"Don’t interrupt early in the..."
Don’t interrupt early in the primary task.
Focus the interruption on whom it affects.
Assist swap-in.
Record the context before the interruption.
Create a virtual secretary.
E.g., knows the priority of the current meeting.
Group interruptions by topic.

Further Reading