Usability: An accelerator for alzheimers? November 28, 2008
Posted by lotusknots in Uncategorized.Tags: Alzheimers, Usability Engineering
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I was trying to use the restroom at my clients office the other day and it always confuses me. They have two buildings and the orientation of the men’s / women’s are exactly the opposite in them. This leaves many folks confused and tickles the brain before you enter the rest room. Everyone especially like me, who has to be mobile between the two buildings; has to pause a moment and think “Am I going to the right one?”.
I am a big fan of usability and I drive my team to create applications that are “user friendly”, trying to provide consistent interfaces, actions etc. But in this pursuit have we gone a bit too far? So far that while doing many things we do not have to use the brain but rather our trained muscles that go at the flick? Of course some part of the brain is being used but not something that would cause a significant activity.
Imagine you entering a Toyota or a Honda or a Ford. Consistent placements of controls leave nothing for you to get accustomed to. Or applications/websites that are consistent in their UI and placement of actions or even icons associated with them. These were all refined with much research into human behavior, but have we gone a bit too far? The human brain needs to be constantly tickled or else it degenerates and results in unfortunate situations like Alzheimers.
Should we take a step back and ensure that we take this step away from consistency and devise systems/products that are bound to make people think?
I even heard of a situation where some guy in India got his lips and tongue burnt by taking water from the filter tap that was colored red and equipped with a step switch. Subsequently the faciilities team had to ensure that all machines were then marked as HOT/COLD inspite of the color combination and deterrent step switch.
Would it help us in the battle against diseases like Alzheimers and develop a calculated mayhem in applications, so that our fellow beings have their cognitive skills going for a longer period?
Not sure if I understood your argument completely, however Alzheimer disease or senile dementia normally affects recently acquired memory in the initial stages and then progress to complete loss of memory including loss of language skills. It is like you are out of disk space, you can store no more, and there is a virus that is eating up files on your harddrive. During the initial stages there would be any difficulty driving a car or going to the restroom, but the sufferer would forget some one he met in the restroom for the first time. Hence atleast during the initial stages any standard cues would help a lot and any changes from the norm would only create dilemma.
Regarding standardization and usability, I believe it enhances your analytical skills and allows faster decisioning. What needs to be thought of are ways to employ the unused brain capacity. Mind you, being a lazy goose or a couch potato does not gaurantee Alzheimers. The cause for Alzheimers I dont think is well understood yet, but its due to some kind of plaque formation in the brain.
** I also did not understand why your brain tickles before entering the restroom. For me, it tickles elsewhere.
Ps: I used to have a friend whose husband had Alzheimers. He had no problems recognizing her or their daughter’s name, but he would never remember that their daughter got married or the son in law. The little knowldege I have about this disease is from her.(Disclaimer).
Yep Unni..Get your point that it is not fully understood yet (Alzheimers). Its more about a plaque that builds up in your brain. Hope we could devise something like a toothpaste..brainpaste or visit a surgeon to do a cleanup similar to what we do with our plaque build up in the teeth. This would help a lot of folks who have to struggle with this incurable disease. If only wishes were horses!
As per an article that I read on Reuters, Alzheimers is even being linked to fast food!
Lifestyle, head injury risk (even whiplash conditions), exercise, diet (read the above on fast food) and intellectually stimulating activities all play roles in this.
So my point was about the intellectually stimulating activity. Standardization and usability are drivers for faster decisioning and there should be a certain degree to it. But then there should be a controlled chaos in this too so that the brain gets exercised.
One common factor people often complain about is ease of use. Say they are used to Microsoft applications (primarily through MS Office, Windows and IE) . For such users any thing else becomes an encounter with the third kind. They would struggle with Safari or Firefox just because the colors layout and icons seem different. Or lets say StarOffice/Symphony vs Office. Or perhaps Rational Porfolio Manager vs Microsoft Project (though there is no reason to compare the two).
If this small bit can help, let us then give back to the humankind the gift of a reduced risk.
How about usability linked to stupidity. We cater to the lowest common denominator in this country and it shows. In public schools, curriculum is dumbed down so that it is accessible to the least capable/intersted and this is starting to happen at a university level as well. Our newspapers are written for a sixth grade reading level for the same reason, and television acts as a substitute for real life experience. High concentrations sugar in the diet have also been linked to decreased brain activity and reduced focus. Maybe we all need to consider becoming Aamish.